Leaves Of Gold
by SQUISHPIE
Summary: Zuko's eyes are pure gold, the markings of a bender. On a rescue mission, he encounters a Watertribe girl and soon finds himself agreeing to help find her uncle's captors. He never expects to befriend her, and he certainly never expects to fall in love.
1. The Killer

**Chapter 1- The Killer**

In the dungeons buried hundreds of floors beneath, the darkness was at its peak, but in Zuko's mind, an intricate map guided him through with ease. Zuko ran his hand along the damp stone walls, and made mental count of the left and right turns. Turning when necessary, and crouching low to feel the unlevel staircase that descended down even deeper. He had only hoped that when his elite guards followed, they would not slip on these unseen dangers, though they had torchlight.

Zuko slipped down the stairway with unmatched stealth. Two left turns, and one right. He began to hear voices, the passage ahead aglow with the flickering orange of an illuminated room. Across from the room was another corridor, which according to Morzo, his consultant, had four to six guards stationed at the next turn.

These guards were Zuko's mission. It was his duty to exterminate them.

Slowly, he stepped towards the growing light, and stopped to hear the casual talk of the dungeon guards. Pressing his back against the walls, he waited, finally approximating a total of nine different voices, several more than he expected. Nevertheless even an entire army would not stand against him. He pulled his hood forward, covering his face, and with a quick sprint, rounded the corner.

Sweeping low, he tripped the first four men. With one hand, he thrust a blade into the stomach of a panicked guard, and with the other he twisted the man's arm in a dislocated position.

"Stop!" A swordsman yelled his knuckles white from gripping the hilt of his blade. "Only a fool would not recognize you." The soldier slashed his blade through the air, as if in warning, and lunged forward. But Zuko was quick, he spun around with such velocity, that his elbow smashed against the man's face, breaking his nose and pushing the bridge into his head.

A rancid smell hung in the air. Bloodied bodies lay strewn upon the floor, and in the farthest cell back, he could barely make out the silhouette of a crouched figure. The dim torchlight did little to comfort the prisoner, his legs pulled up tightly against his chest, and his breathe to cold to care about the fighting. The man's unruly dark hair matched his haggard expression, and for a moment, Zuko glimpsed the intricate whale-boned jewelry that identified the prisoner as a member of the Water Tribe. Morzo's advice had served him well, yet again. Pressing his hand against the latch, Zuko confirmed that the cell was indeed welded shut. He gave a low whistle that resonated in the silence of the passageways. Spilling around the corner, two members of his elite guard surged in.

"Twenty-seven minutes exactly," Zuko smirked.

"Not another minute, My Lord," His guards confirmed obediently, "Please return safely."

The flickering torches licked the walls and coated the darkness with an orange hint as the two elites heated the iron bars with enhanced heat. The Water Tribe man wailed weakly, and turned his head in the opposite direction. Finally, the screeching sound of obstinate iron creaked slightly, allowing entry to the prisoner's rescuers. However, Zuko did not wait to see the liberating process of the prisoner. He tucked his spare blade back into its sheath and plunged back into the underground labyrinth.

Within minutes, the entire circuitries of palace guards would be alerted if they knew of the commotion below. From underneath, the cell guards would make a desperate attempt to warn the dungeon guard regiment, who would then turn and sounded the alarm, alerting the guards stationed at the palace above. The Noble's guards would be doubled, surrounding his chamber like an impenetrable wall. If Zuko and his men were not within a mile's distance by the time a legion was sent to pursue them, then the night would end in much bloodshed. So, Zuko had to dismember the limbs of every guard cell guard. He moved with speed and efficiency, striking out the soldiers five at a time. His prescence was like the wind, rushing through and sweeping away all in its path. Nobody would know what hit them. The guard at the castle door jumped out.

"I know a bender when I see one," He jabbed. "Let me see the color of your eyes!"

It sent Zuko shrills of pleasure to hear the cracking of the soldier's skull as the hilt of his dagger pushed against it. An instant death, just the way he liked it. Nobody would suspect the crown prince of the Fire Nation to be a criminal, constantly doing his father's dirty work. Disposing of uncooperative nobles and sabotaging the plans of foreign war lords. He stayed on track, heading east towards the side entrance and while he neared it, several of his elites joined him. Just this morning, Zuko was seen in a palanquin ride around the royal city. At night, several hours of riding brought him to the dungeons stationed just beneath a small palace bordering Earth Kingdom and Air Nomad territory.

Zuko slipped through the courtyard, the cool night air cutting against his skin. The earthy soil molded into the soles of his boots, leaving behind distinct tracks. It mattered not though; his mission was complete even under the time allotted. In his wake, a trail of bloodied, dead, and unconscious guards lay crumpled. Such were the casualties of his missions.

It was a good game. Those who had suspicions were quickly disposed of. Only the elite guards and a select few including his cousin and father knew of his double-sided nature.

Nearing the end of the garden, she approached an ancient looking man with hair as white as winter snow. Zuko could not respect a nobleman who would not retire his soldiers at a comfortable age. However, if he failed to strike this guard, then the entire estate would be aroused. He gently struck the old soldier in the back, and pushed him gently against the brush.

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The first time he had killed a man, was by accident. It was a vivid memory he wished not to remember, but it remained close to his consciousness, resurfacing every so often. It was how his talent had been exposed, eleven years ago in his father's court. He had only been a child shy of eight years. A round-faced nobleman had visited, his beady orange flecked eyes pressed into the pasty texture of his face. He was utterly despicable. The way he flirted with the palace maids, grinning at them and cornering the younger female servants just to taunt them with teasing touches when he thought nobody was looking. When the nobleman began to inspect Zuko curiously, he had grown uncomfortable.

"Such a handsome little boy," he'd said. "Come closer; let me see your eyes."

Zuko had not yet known he was a bender, some benders had talent that stayed dormant for years, but with the right sequential triggers, the masked power would bloom eventually. When the nobleman's grubby fingers tilted Zuko's chin up, Zuko's hands flamed, pressing the fire from his palm onto the melting flesh of the repulsive being. Women all around screamed in horror as the marred body lay lifeless on the red tiles of the palace. It was disfigured beyond recognition, and many of the passing spectators stopped dead in the tracks, stunned by the young boy's demonstrated murder.  
"The crown prince, a bender?" nobles of the court would whisper. Even if he was the son of a King, on normal conditions he would be banished. In the Fire Nation, benders were shunned in the cities and lived ghettos surrounded by walls. But, Fire Lord Ozai was clever. He saw the potential in harboring his bender son, and raised him as the prince he was meant to be. Day after day he trained, controlling his elemental fire. Men were never the same around him, and although his prescience was tolerated, it was not warmly welcomed. They never looked directly into his pure gold eyes, and stared away when he approached. Only those with pure eyes were benders. Common folk had multicolored irises, some were orange with red and blue flecks, and still others grey with pinkish tints. But crown prince Zuko's eyes were the color of melted gold, pools of amber reflecting in the sunlight without the slightest trace of another hue.

His cousin, Lu Ten was the only one who sought out his company. His father, General Iroh had died in a great war years before.

"I don't know what came over me. An inner fire seemed to burst forth, pushing its way into the center of my fists." Zuko said.

"What happened Zuko?"

"His presence was alarming, I felt uncomfortable so I struck him. But when I did so, I felt my entire body being heated, and flames erupted."

Lu Ten nodded his head eagerly in understanding, Zuko's bending talent had not pushed apart their friendship, and Lu Ten did everything in his power to aid Zuko in the art of patience and self-control. Zuko's cousin was three years older at the time. Lu ten was eleven and he was wise beyond his years. He knew to be cautions of Zuko's untamed eruptions, but it only furthered his curiosity.

Soon, Lu Ten had an entire training schedule planned. Rules were set forth to control the young bender's power. Zuko was never allowed to practice on him, of course, and was only allowed to use his fire bending on dummies they stuffed with grass or prisoners whose deaths had already been finalized.

He practiced with newfound rigor every day. He learned the extent of his unmatched speed and explosive force. He learned how to control the intensity of his fire, and the distinct differences between a killing blow, and a maiming one. He learned how to disarm the highest trained soldiers within seconds, and how to fight with a variety of weapons. He was fast, focused, and able to beat a man with one hand tied behind his back. The bending increased his physical strength tenfold, surpassing any normal mortal. Such was the magnitude of his raw power.

In time, his self-control improved, and she began to train with soldiers sent forth to spar with him on the training fields. Six or eight at a time, fully armed with spears, and glistening red war armor. His practices sent growing men crawling away with exhaustion, scars, and countless bruises and cuts. Knocking them down with his bare hands and dodging the spears meant to impale him. He would swiftly approach them from behind, and knock them from under their feet before they even knew where he had moved next. Sometimes, court members would come to inspect his practices. When he turned their way, they coughed lightly and turned in the opposite direction. However, Fire Lord Sozin had made no attempt to cease his young son's training. He would be by far useful if his bending was controlled. Now, on his father's training grounds nobody could criticize the vicinity of his control.

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His thoughts wandered carelessly, though he was focused on the task at hand. A thin shadow flickered in the darkness. Zuko gripped his knife and slipped behind the unknowing figure. He stepped out of the darkness and locked his broad arms around the cloaked assailant and pressed his blade against the quivering neck. Unless he had no feeling in his arms, he knew that his victim was a woman. Within the instant it took for him to gather his thoughts, she had disarmed him, pressing his very own blade below his chin. His heart raced within his chest, beating wildly out of rhythm. She too was a bender, no doubt. He took hold of her wrist, overpowering with sheer strength and turned to face her.

"I've heard of a woman, not from this part of the kingdom, who is too a powerful bender."

He would have to learn who she was, if he wanted to know how to dispose of her properly. Benders were powerful humans, and were not sacrificed as cannon fodder in a war, especially if they were under the command of a foreign king or nobleman.

"You're a Waterbender," he said.

"Your eyesight is commendable. "She replied.

Zuko smirked, "I could have spotted the purest blue eyes within a mile's distance." His common sense told him to kill her, for if she was here on this very night, it was almost certain that she was working for a king of one of the Joined Water Tribes. But, somehow his conscience told him to hold back.

"What is a waterbender doing in Earth Kingdom and Air Nomad lands?"  
Her languid and relaxed persona was admirable in the face of a powerful bender, "Tell me your reason, and I'll tell you mine."  
"I will be telling nothing tonight," Zuko replied, gritting his teeth. "I'll use force if necessary."

She gave him a daring smile, "Do you think you possibly could?" She faked to her left, and dodged quickly behind a tree to her right. She was fast, but so was Zuko. She was wasting his time, merely playing with him. Her slurred motions were effortless, and she made no sign of alerting the guards. Did this make her an ally? Or was she solely acting for her own interests? Perhaps she had come to fetch the prisoner and claim the glory for herself, but very few knew of the prisoner's presence here on the border territories. She was unlike any other assassin he had ever seen before. The girl seemed in full control of herself, painstakingly aware of her surroundings, but most of all she didn't release the vibes of a killer he had felt so many times before.

She was barely dodging his grasp. His fingertips would brush against the silky blue hem of her dress, but she would quickly twist her body and slip through his fingers like water. Her azure eyes and perfectly tanned skin marked her as a woman from the Water Tribes. The multiple milky colored bone necklaces that adored her neck clinked together as their place slowed. The piercings in each of her ears sparkled dully, and soon they found themselves panting with exhaustion.

Her body language told him everything. She had no intention of fighting, though what here real motives were, Zuko had yet to find out. She stepped into the rays of moonlight, and its waxy light did wonders to heighten her exotic features.  
"I trust you," she said all too easily.

Zuko took advantage of her lowered guard, and directed his kick to land directly behind the nape of her neck. Her knees gave in, and she fell unconscious. The least he could do spare her life. He looked down at her, and on closer inspection, realized that she was younger than he had realized. He was nineteen, and she seemed around seventeen.

What a strange girl, Zuko found himself thinking. Perhaps Lu Ten would know to think of it. He rolled his shoulders, massaging the warm feeling back into them and continued along. His elites would be waiting up front for his arrival.

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For hours they rode relentlessly. The rescued Water Tribe man was strapped to a horse, as he was too weak to support himself. They layered blankets over his shivering body, and without proper treatment, he would soon be killed by the cold. Zuko ordered his men to make camp, hastily building a fire to warm the rescued prisoner.

"We must arrive back at the Royal City before dawn, or our absence will lead to unnecessary suspicions. His elite guard agreed, and prepared themselves to leave at a moment's notice.

_Perhaps it was a mistake to leave her alive._ Zuko contemplated wearily. _She seemed to know who I was, yet she did not fear me._ Although, his conscience chastised him for thinking such thoughts. She was a woman, a bender no less and she trusted him. Then again, he reconsidered. Her decision to trust him would not have been called upon so easily if she were to see the way he killed. If Fire Lord Ozai were to hear of this, surely Zuko would be punished. Interaction with a foreign bender was strictly against conduct.

Zuko exhaled, relieving the frustration from his tired boy. For now, his only mission was to return the Water Tribe man to the Fire Palace safely, and an hour before the sun arose, he did exactly that.

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**Author's Note: It's been a while since I've updated anything on Fanfiction hasn't it? Anyways, I just finished reading this utterly A-M-A-Z-I-N-G story, and while I was reading it, the thought occurred to me that it would make wonderful Zutara fanfiction! So, of course, I was inspired by the story and decided to write my own, adding many Avatar touches to it. If you haven't already figured it out, this is set in an AU (Alternate Universe) and yes, there will be some Zutara fluff. Though I'm not sure if it's going to be rated M. Anyways, if you have ANY questions whatsoever PLEASE PLEASE ask me so I can clarify the story. All constructive criticism and ideas are warmly welcomed!**

Best Regards,  
Alicia! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was a land of four elemental kingdoms, ruled by four simply unreadable kings. Why anybody would hold Hakoda, brother in law of Chief Arnook of the Joined Water Nations was beyond explanation. He was not particularly old, perhaps middle-aged and held no threatening ambitions. He spent most of the days before his capture, playing in the sea with the young children of his son. He bothered no one, and kept mostly to himself.

The Air nomads had no enemies. Their trade was fair, sending the exact amount of gold to the nations they traded with. Subsistence farming kept their numbers small, but strong, and lived a strictly vegetarian way of life. Their features were distinct, thin builds and intricate blue tattoos adorned their bodies. They respected their customs, and were the least troublesome of the four kingdoms. They lived alone in the high mountaintops and under massive cliff sides. The head monk of the Nomads ruled fairly, and declared no war.

The network of spies sent forth by the Fire Nation had traced Hakoda's exact location. After weeks of careful observance, an accurate map was produced of the dungeons layout, and Fire Lord Ozai prepared his son for the next mission. Many of the nations were at war. The Joined Water tribes were fighting amongst themselves, soon breaking out into a civil war, and the Earth Kingdom planned on wagering war on the Fire Nation, just for the sake of flexing their military might.

It had not always been like this. The Water Tribes, Fire Nation, Air Nomads, and Earth Kingdom lived in peace once. Centuries back, they had all been brothers, each learning the way of a different element and coexisting peacefully. However, jealously arose because the Fire Nation royal family became greater in every aspect. The Fire Nation civilization by far exceeded that of the Water Tribe, and their mechanics of war stroked fear to the remaining world. War broke out in small numbers, slowly pulling all the other nations into a murderous bloodbath.

The Air Nomads were separated by impenetrable mountains, thus, not much was known about their civilization other than their successful trade. Rumor was that the successor of the Venerable Monk Gyatso, was a young airbender named Aang. While traveling the four kingdoms, Aang fell in love with a lovely water tribe girl, but despite his declaration of love, she refused his hand in marriage. He was absolutely heartbroken, and left, never to be seen again. The water tribe girl was overcome with worry, and when her father disappeared, she begged to the council to let her search for him. They consented easily, since the girl was a waterbender, and a powerful one. In the Water Tribes, benders were respected, almost praised for their strength and warrior-like demeanor. At dawn, the girl set out and began her search at the bordering Earth Kingdom territories. Why had her father been stolen? What value would he be to the other warring nations?

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Zuko reached the Royal City hours ago after passing Hakoda of the Water Tribe to the palace healers. The hooves of their ostrich-horses clattered back into the city, their mission successful. As the pace of his elite guard slowed, he was sure to pull his hood closer over his face to make his entrance into the city less obvious. The horses brought their riders back safely into the back stables, past closed stores and empty plazas. There were rarely uncivilized brawling in the Fire Nation, for Fire Lord Ozai tolerated no such thing.

When the early morning vendors began to filter in the streets, Zuko dismounted his animal and handed the reins to a nearby stable hand. It was still somewhat dark as the rest of his elite guard jumped off their saddles and stretched their backs. Walking towards a single horse, Zuko gently shook the shoulders of Hakoda.

"My Lord, you must awaken," he asked. "I have not the strength to carry you up the steps of the palace."  
Hakoda's blue-speckled eyes peered open, the cold lulling him back into the warmth of sleep. "Where am I?"  
"Fear not, you are almost to safety. The Fire Nation will be your humble fortress."

"I didn't know the Fire Lord Ozai was one to conduct rescues."  
Zuko hadn't expected him to act so ungratefully, but shook it off. "He's not."

"Zuko is your name, am I right youngling?

"Correct, My Lord."

"I've heard from tradesmen, that your eyes are the color of gold." Hakoda tried sitting himself up and squinted towards the torchlight. "Indeed, their rumors were no understatement. Like pools of amber, your eyes are. Does it comfort you, knowing that your eyes are so beautiful?"  
Zuko was stunned by the man's direct comments, but then he replied. "No, Lord Hakoda, I would give up all the beauty and power to live the life of common folk." Zuko had decided that he rather enjoyed the company of this Water Tribe man. Not many approached him about his bending, and his accent slurred his languid speech.

As it played out, Zuko did carry the rescued man up the steps. As he arrived at the time, he was panting heavily from the intense physical labor, but luckily Lu Ten's quick steps echoed closer.

"Zuko, my cousin, must you be so loud? I'm sure the entire Fire Nation has heard your arrival already. "Storming through the city like you own it."  
Zuko smirked, "I do." Lu Ten waved his hand passively, signifying that it was beside the point.

"Did everything go as planned?" His cousin asked.

"Yes for the most part, everything fell together smoothly." Zuko replied.

"Very well young Prince, I'll take care of the man now, go and catch up on rest."

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Zuko slipped past the red-tiled houses just as the rising sun spilled over the Fire Nation. He felt light, for the first time in many months, and as he slowed, he left heavier boot prints in the spongy garden soil, and approached the stables were several of his elites were already grooming their ostrich-horses.

"Don't be so haste now," an older guard chastised, "What if you were discovered sleeping outside the city? The Fire Lord would truly behead us if that were so"

Zuko brushed the comment aside and quickly interrogated, "Lord Hakoda is alright I presume?" His fellow guards nodded simply, "He hasn't awakened yet, but last I heard Lu Ten was taking great care of him."

A young stable boy brought the men fresh loaves of bread, and cheese. They split the rations and discussed future plans. "Why so uptight, Prince Zuko? You have only just arrived a night ago, and yet you're already increasing our training procedures?" Zuko knew they thought him critical, but he didn't mind for it was true. Day and night his training would not cease till he reached the peak of perfection.

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The beginning of thick woods signified Earth Kingdom territory. As Zuko and his guards rode through the morning, they calculated that their destination would be in reach by late afternoon. After finishing his business in the Fire Nation, Zuko was automatically dispatched the following day for an investigation round. Before their departure, Zuko had spoken briefly with Lu Ten, asking if he knew anything of the captured Water Tribe man. Lu Ten admitted he knew nothing, but promised to keep an open eye on the man's condition.

Zuko lay on his back and listened to the steady breathing of the guards around him. He however, was plagued with that of insomnia. Sleep eluding his grasp like sand slipping through his fingers. He watched the sky turn from a blotchy pink to the brilliant crystal blue that matched the color of his mother's turtle duck pond. Two days of hard riding, and sleepless nights, Zuko was awake with alarming alertness.

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The first time he'd hurt someone in the singular interest of Fire Lord Ozai had been in a village, bordering not far from their current camp. Zuko had been ten years old at the time, having spent two years to keep his wild bending under control, the Fire Lord decided he was adequate enough for his first mission.

His father had summoned him to the council room during Zuko's morning training session.

"Are you finally ready to do something useful with your bending?" His father boomed at him.

Surprised that his father would think something useful from his shunned talent was uncharacteristic of him.

"Hmm," Ozai mumbled, smirking at his son's gravely silence. "Listen up boy, I'm sending you to the city of Kaizan. You're to hunt down this traitor, and kill him in the public square. No weapons, just your bare hands."  
Zuko looked in apparent shot, his young amber eyes in horrid disgust. However even he knew better than to speak against his father's commands.

"I hope you've learned to control your bloodlust by now," his father spat.

Bowing humbly, Zuko shrank back, digesting the bloody spectacle his father ordered him to commit. The very next day, the young assassin was sent out, accompanied by a small elite group. The traitor was snuffed out easily, and dragged to the public square. Zuko could smell the fear in his eyes as he begged to the ten year old boy under the tension of hundreds of gazes. With mercy, Zuko pressed his small hands against the man's throat, and snapped it quickly. An instant death. Just the way he liked it.

When he returned to the royal city, his father was furious. "What is the point of a public execution," he said, "if the assassin shows mercy to the traitor? A death without blood, is not worthy of your skill." He was practically snarling, but Zuko didn't care. As punishment, he was locked away for weeks on end, in the dark depths of his room until he was on knees, bowing and begging to his father to forgive his ineptitude.

After that, Fire Lord Ozai's commands would include a specific method of killing, including a measurement of how much blood would be spilled. There was no way to twist around his commands. The more Zuko killed, the more he grew comfortable around its atmosphere. His reputation as a bending killer spread like wildfires across the land. Everyone feared the Fire Lord's mysterious assassination toy.

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On his many travels to perform the Fire Lord's bidding, Zuko learned of many tales, rumors, stories, and information only passed through the cryptic language of spies. Secret dungeons on bordering nations and uncovered paths through mountain ranges that led to Air Nomad temples. Zuko would push all this information into the back of his head, raising mental barriers to keep his father's interrogations as simple as possible. He wouldn't take a life if he didn't have to, and knowing less meant killing less.

He met many people-innkeepers, blacksmiths, swordsmen, farmers, and local merchants. Everyone, he learned, was tired of the Kings' tyranny from all four nations, and under Zuko's supervision, he would soon be involved to deeply in the shackles of political spats. He was his father's tool, used to commit the murders the Fire Lord himself was to proud to execute. Somehow, he had learned to accept this existence, for he knew that he wasn't normal. No girl would want to marry him; no girl would want to marry a pure-eyed bender. He would never know the warmth of a family, or of a woman. To come home at night, tired from a hard day's work and find his wife and child comfortably asleep. This was the nonexistent reality he dreamed of.

Though, his father did push upon him political marriages. He remembered one specifically, a noblewoman named Mai. She was duller than an old ostrich horse, and wore nothing but drab black clothing. Her expression was darkly placid, and only spoke when spoken to. Her family had agreed to the marriage, but Zuko refused, successfully convincing the Fire Lord that a woman would simply weaken him. Mai was swiftly sent home the following week, and for all he knew she was still sulking and playing with her little red blades till this day.

Tired of his wandering thoughts, Zuko commanded himself to sleep. Instantly, tiredness swept over him like a blanket, and he was asleep under the deep glow of moonlight.

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When morning came, the guards woke up one by one and rinsed their faces in the nearby stream. They dressed in padded armor and thick linen guards. The head elite was dressed in his commanding uniform and Zuko changed into a thin silken shirt and black trousers. On the hem of his shirt was the royal insignia of the Fire Lord's court signifying Zuko's royal status.  
"We'll arrive at the Earth Kingdom in about two hours."  
Zuko nodded, "Is there any information about the Earth Kingdom that I must make not of?"  
A soldier piped in and offered his advice, "The last time I traveled to Omashu, I heard that the Earth King's daughter is a bender. Fear not though my lord, she's young and very incapable of controlling her power."

Again, Zuko nodded and made plans for their departure.

In the Fire Nation, benders were shut out from the cities. A child with pure eyes took weeks, months, and occasionally years after its birth to develop his bending. Every mother would lie awake in fear, hoping that her child's eyes would remain its natural speckled color. For when a child's eyes turned one color, a pure color, it meant his bending awakened. Immediately, the soldiers would come and take the child away, never to be seen by his parents again. To keep the child was treason, and punishable by death.

The Earth Kingdom was said to have an army of benders, powerful men who willed the rocks of the earth to shake loose and thrown at impossible distances.

"Be cautions," Zuko warned his men, "Benders are not uncommon in the Earth Kingdom."

A massive earth wall encircled the vicinity of the Earth Kingdom, keeping enemies afar. Zuko slipped his hood off onto his shoulders, revealing his stunning amber eyes.

"I, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation have come to speak with Nobleman Bei Fong."

The soldiers took a solid stance, bending the wall open and allowing entry to their guests.

"Would you like an escort My Lord?" A warrior clad in green and grey approached Zuko and his elites. With a wave of his hand, Zuko dismissed him and continued along the upper ring to the nobleman's estate.

"Lord Bei Fong," Zuko acknowledged.  
With his sleeves folded into the large confines of his silk sleeves, the nobleman bowed slightly, "What brings you to my humble home Crown Prince Zuko?"

In his mind, Zuko sneered, for the man's home was anything but humble. Pushing his thoughts aside, Zuko continued to state his business. "Your daughter's talent has reached the ears of the Fire Lord," Zuko swore he could see the man's face turn pallor. The Bei Fong noble stuttered, "It is a great honor."

"We request that she serves the Fire Lord personal guard."  
Shaking his head, the man pleaded and begged, promising to pay double his weight in gold if Zuko were to let his daughter stay in Ba Sing Se. It was Fire Lord Ozai's strict orders that Zuko was to kill the man if he refused. He admitted though, that the nobleman was brave. Most would cower in fear, whimpering and begging for their lives. As Zuko raised his dagger to slit the man's throat, he stopped. Sheathing his small knife, he claimed, "I have more honor than to slit the throat of a man who wants only to protect his daughter," With that said, he fixed his gold eyes on the quaking nobleman and commanded his elites out of the city.

When he and his men were safely back at camp, Zuko breathed a heavy sigh of worry.

"I am in no position to question your decision Prince Zuko," His commander admitted, "But was it really wise to defy the Fire Lord's orders?" Zuko was not so sure himself. Instead, he began to devise a plan, the plots unrolling in his mind.

"Orin," he said.

"Yes my lord?"  
"When we return to my father, you are to tell him that I was defiant of his orders."  
Orin gaped at Zuko's suggestion and said stammering, "B-But my prince! The elites will seve on your side till death."  
The prince's expression softened, "I know Orin, my good friend. But my father's orders are becoming inhuman, cruel and I have the right to maintain my humanity."

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"Welcome back, my son." His father greeted at the dining table. "Come, it is not too late to join me in a late lunch."

Zuko politely refused, but sat down on his father's right side. "The Nobleman knows nothing of the kidnap of Lord Hakoda. He refused to turn over his daughter as well." Fire Lord Sozin seemed unaffected, "So you killed him." It was not a question; it was mere statement, a fact.

"No father."  
Ozai glared at his son, eyes orange with fury, "You _dare_ disobey my direct orders?"

The conclusion of their conversation was a blur, he could taste the blood in his mouth as he allowed his father to beat him and kick his ribs and stomach.

For the next week, Zuko was locked away, and observing through his bedroom window, a peculiar blue-eyed girl resting behind a tree.

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**Author's Notes: As you know, Avatar does not belong to me. Disclaimer, blah blah blah. Also, credit goes to the author of a fantasy novel I read recently for inspiring me to write an ATLA fanfic about it. WOHOOO chapter 2! Sorry if it's not instantly romantic. I promise you though; there will be some Zutara fluff moments later on, not too soon though. Tell me what you think! I'd really love to know!**

Best Regards,  
Alicia


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Much time had passed since Zuko's imprisonment. His freedom was finally granted weeks later, and stepping out into the fresh late afternoon air, the prince stretched his limbs in a manner of contentment. The sun was well above the rooftops, and he abruptly made his way into the courtyard, smirking slightly as he passed the newly constructed marble statue of Ozai. A fountain of water spewed quietly beneath the statue's feet, and in its hands were bright red flames. It was quite the attractive garden, blooming with foliage, but not at all peaceful. The red walls and gold tinted tiles were flamboyant and dazzling in the light, just the way Ozai liked it.

Moments later, Lu Ten's bursting demeanor filled the courtyard.

"Zuko! You're here!"

Zuko forced himself to grin, pleased to see his cousin, but in no mood for his jocular persona.

"What in Agni's name have you been doing all these weeks?"  
Zuko shrugged, and ran a hand through his unruly hair, "Stretching and keeping my mind sharp, but I must confess that I do feel sluggish."

"Suddenly cutting off weeks of intense training can do that to a person." Lu Ten pointed out.

A young messenger came running up; bowing his head in respect he delivered a message. "Crown Prince Zuko, Fire Lord Ozai wishes for you to dine with him this evening."

Clenching his fists, Zuko dismissed the messenger and turned to Lu Ten. "My father wishes to see me tonight." A silent look was all Lu Ten offered. Both knew that the Fire Lord's wrath was decisive and harsh, but then he would coax the victim back out and reassure him with false, soothing words." It had always been this way. Zuko turned around sighed, directing his course back to the room that had been his prison.

When he navigated himself around the many turns of the palace, a familiar voice called from behind.

"Zuko, cousin you look ever so lost. Has your mind turned sluggish as well?"  
Zuko turned his head back and flashed Lu Ten an unconvincing smile for the second time that day.  
"Just stalling." The prince replied. "I have to bathe and dress myself for dinner soon."

"Oh well, I won't stand in the way of your beautification process then, my prince." Lu Ten dissolved into a fit of laughter and waved his hand, disappearing into a nearby door. It closed with a soft click, and that's when a faint silhouette materialized on the balcony above. She was leaning her elbows on the railing, the neck of her shirt opened slightly exposing her slender collarbone. The bone piercings in her ears glowed dully and shark toothed necklaces hung loosely around her neck. Her hair was a rich chocolate, flowing freely in the wind. A large bruise was visible where her hair failed to mask it, deep purple and very painful looking. Her eyes were a stunning shade of s blue, and it was a wonder he didn't notice them more on their first encounter. He couldn't peel his eyes away from her. After a moment or so, she turned and settled her gaze on his, lips curved with slight amusement. She ran a hand through her dark wavy hair and gave him a nod.

She was cocky, and all to wild for his liking. He watched her turn away, and whatever game she intended to play, he most certainly would not take part.

Zuko tore his eyes away and pushed himself towards his room, constantly wary of her cerulean scrutiny.

-

-

-

Lin had become Zuko's maid when he was of nine years. She never feared the bending child, perhaps because she too had a child of her own who was blessed with bending, or rather cursed. Either way, the difference mattered not. This was why when the other servants warned her of Zuko's bending; she merely walked away, keeping the strong opinions to herself. One day, while he was in the training fields, Lin had come to watch. She saw him dislocate the wooden arms of ten mannequins, and set the nearby grass ablaze with flames that had failed to miss its target. Zuko noticed her, but paid not particular attention, for she was just another palace hand amazed yet terrified of his skill. For several days, Lin had come to his sessions. On the fourth day, she approached him as he was fastening makeshift targets for himself.

"The men of court say your power is to wild to be left unattended."

Zuko considered the woman, her grey eyes and soft complexion before turning back to his work and replying. "Perhaps that is true."  
"Did you mean to kill him? A year ago, that round-faced nobleman?"

Zuko shrugged, "No, I meant only to protect myself from his curiosity." Very few had ever spoken of Zuko's bending, although it was not forbidden, It was naturally uncomfortable to speak of it.

"Then you are dangerous?" She asked, her eyes flickered in pain, perhaps for the memories of her bending child.

"Perhaps," Zuko replied again. "It's why I spend my days on the training grounds."

"To control your bending."  
"Yes, to cultivate my skill and tread in the dangerous waters of my capable power."

She smiled a motherly smile. "Ah, Crown Prince Zuko, then you are wise beyond your years."  
"Tell me my Prince," She continued. "Have you any female servants in your company?"

Zuko scowled, shaking his head. "I have no need for any."

The woman laughed lightly. "Even young men like you are in need of a woman's care and direction. I'd like to serve you on occasions. You may always join me if you'd like to break away from your father's dull dinners with his generals." She seemed so confident in herself and patient; he decided perhaps it was alright once in a while. Since then, he had dined with her often and soon found her advice and motherly temperament soothing.

"Your eyes are beautiful, my prince," She had said

Zuko choked out an honest thanks, and though he wasn't sure why, he felt very relieved.

-

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-

Zuko sat quietly in the bath, leaning his sore shoulders on the back of the marble tub. In the adjacent room, he could hear Lin opening and closing drawers loudly, and mumbling to herself. Through the crack of the door, he saw her peering under his bed, probably in search of something insignificant like his comb. Zuko reached down to drain the water, and stood up to wrap his waist in a fresh towel.

"What shall you wear tonight my dear?" Lin asked as Zuko stepped into the room.

He looked at her blankly.

Laughing, Lin went on, "Of course, I should have known better than to ask." Nearly gliding across the room, she selected a neatly folded deep red tunic lined with gold trimming.

"Is this too casual for the occasion?" she inquired.

"It will suffice," Zuko nodded in his approval and slipped the silky fabric over his chest.

"You've grown up to be a fine young man," she cooed while smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles. "There now, do me a favor and comb your hair. It would be nice if you tended to it every so often on your travels."

Zuko snorted, "What would my soldiers think of me if they saw their prince vainly combing his hair?"  
Lin sighed comfortably, "Hm, the naiveté of youth. Don't you ever take into consideration that a young woman might find you…"

"Becoming?" He added, finishing the sentence for her.

Lin nodded, "You are of marrying age; I'm surprised the Fire Lord has yet to force a wife upon you."  
Zuko looked away, "I'm persistent on maintaining my freedom."

The maid laughed at his obstinate, if not foolish statement. "My young prince, the road ahead will unfold many of life's greatest pleasures. I shan't be surprised to find you one day riding home from your travels with a lovely bride to be."

"Yes, that's very realistic," The Prince added in a dry sarcastic tone.

-

-

-

In the grand dining hall, the Fire Lord sat atop the dais, flames and torchlight adding to his fiery presence.

"Fire Lord," Zuko acknowledged and knelt, bowing before his father.

"Rise, Prince Zuko. Come, and join us for dinner."

Standing before his father, Zuko felt small and insignificant. Ozai was taller, even more so than his son and his shoulders were broader, fitting his royal robes perfectly. He had dark graying hair, and orange-yellow eyes that darkened when he scowled.

At dinner, he wasn't fearsome, just loud and arrogant. He brought whomever he wished to sit with to the high table, though it was rarely Zuko. He preferred to look down at his murder weapon and speak loudly at him, thus directing all the attention towards the prince. The small crowd would look down in fear, avoiding the firebender's gaze and eat in shaking silence. Just the way Fire Lord Ozai liked it.

Tonight, he sat at a slightly lower table to the Fire Lord's right, his usual position. Surrounding him were several war generals, none whom he wished to converse with, and women in their early to mid twenties. The Fire Lord was always certain to keep handfuls of women near him, teasing them and showing neither self-restraint nor respect. It disgusted Zuko, but he kept his posture composed.

The blue-eyed girl refused to leave his train of thought. She was seated on the left side of the room, near the Fire Lord no less. The Fire Lord kept his most trusted generals and members of the royal family to the right, and royal guests and visiting nobles to the left. Zuko had guessed correctly, for the most part she was royalty. A Water tribe princess perhaps. Her dress was different, though he didn't bother to question himself as to why he took noticed. It was strenuous feeling the intensity of her gaze. When he turned to look her way, she would steer her eyes in the opposite direction, or quickly pull herself into an idle conversation. In one of the many quick glances they stole at each other, their eyes met purely by coincidence. The benders held their ground for moments longer, but it dawned on him that she was not afraid to hold his gaze… she was not afraid of his eyes, nor was he of hers.

Zuko snarled.

"Is everything alright my prince?" Orin questioned, noticing his discomfort.

"Everything's fine, I Just need a breath of fresh air." There was a hint of bitterness in his voice; and in the corner of his eye he could feel her gaze again. Heat rose from the back of his neck, and once he exited the large doors of the hallway, he broke free of the crowd, running as fast as he could into the night air. He kicked off the tight shoes bounding his feet, and splashed his face in the cool fountain water.

"She drives me mad." Zuko panted, droplets of water dripping from his hair. "Her gaze suffocates me."

Looking, he could see warm yellow lights illuminating Lu Ten's room. Though, the prince did not vent his anger out through teary confessions and talk. It was the adrenaline and soreness of battle that brought him comfort. Slipping his shoes back on, Prince Zuko tore through the garden.

-

-

-

When he arrived, the training fields were dark and empty. A single row of torches flickered on the far side, illuminating a strip of grass. He positioned himself before a line of several mannequins and spun around, flames erupting form his heels, reducing the wooden men to charred bits. He had lost his temper during dinner, Ozai had not even spoken to him, yet he felt unbearable rage. Grunting with effort, he released columns of flames, turning and striking at metal bars till his wrists were bruised. He felt calmer then, tired, but content.

Zuko knew it was the Watertribe girl who stood behind him. He remembered her voice, and now it taunted him.

"Could you kill and feel no pain?"

"Pain," The Prince replied, "Is but an obstacle."  
"Well spoken," The blue-eyed girl smiled while twisting the strands of her hair, "You're quite unbeatable, Prince Zuko."

The Fire Lord's son was now half way across the field, patting out the flames from his training mannequins.

"Here, let me help you." With a flick of her wrist, she conjured s thin stream of water, whipping it towards the trickling flames, and extinguishing them with a soft sizzle. Zuko ignored her bending display, unhooking the dummies and keeping his back towards her. Without his knowledge, the girl slipped around from behind him and met the prince's amber eyes face to face. Zuko never flinched, holding her gaze with matched intensity. She smiled at him, causing the prince to look away, for he was far used to people avoiding his gaze.

"I will be returning to my room now," Zuko snapped.

The girl straightened. "I have a question for you, my prince."

They both knew this conversation would unearth, and he preferred it here in the dark. "Go on," he said.

"What did you steal from the Earth-Air Nomad territory dungeon? Two months past?"

"Nothing that belonged to them, if that's what you instigate."

"I thought the Fire Nation never involved itself in inferior…" she struggled for the right term, "political spats?"

"I suppose you're wrong." Zuko could see the torchlight licking the features of her face.

"I doubt it." She replied flatly.

"Do you know why I'm here, Prince Zuko?"

"I assume you're the daughter of Chief Arnook of the Joined Water Tribes, sent in search of your missing uncle. Why you are in the Fire Nation court though, I cannot say."

She considered him for a moment, and her face melted into a knowing smile. Zuko knew he wasn't fooling her. She had her suspicions, but he would make no notion of confirming them.

He noticed the V-line of her dress was now stitched closed.

"I see you close the neckline of your dress for formal dinners," he heard himself saying.

The girl's voice showed no effort to conceal her laughter, "I didn't know you were so interested in my dress."

Her laugh was infuriating and he could feel the heat from the back of his neck crawl up his skin.

"I'm leaving now," Zuko hissed.

In a quick motion, she blocked his path. "You have my uncle," she said.

"I'm going to my rooms now," he stated even more indignantly.

She blocked his path again, this time spreading out her arms in warning.

"I _will_ be leaving, even if I have to strike you, woman."  
"Then do so," her voice was fearless. "I won't allow you to leave until you reveal to me where my uncle is."

He moved to pass her, pushing through with his shoulder, but she was quicker, swiveling her feet to face him.

The tense silence was an indication of their next moves.

Willing the water into eight long arms, the Watertribe girl lashed out with deadly precision. The prince took a defensive position, deflecting her whips with a sizzling burst of fire. Sensing an opening in her stance, he quickly sent a fiery column of flames, barely grazing her arm as she bent low. Back and forth they sparred with matched skill. However, Prince Zuko was easily stronger by brute force. As she sent icy daggers towards his face, he stooped down, elbowing her in the stomach and pinned her arms to the floor. She twisted under his chest and kicked the air, finally releasing herself from his hold. Circling each other like hawks they threw a series of quick jabs and kicks. He didn't know how long they'd been grappling until he realized she was laughing. He understood her joy, however, for the bending prince had never faced an opponent so evenly matched. She was quick, but he was stronger, and as their game unraveled, he gripped her hair and pushed her face sideways into the dirt while locking his knees at her sides.

"Surrender," he said

"I'm not beaten till I'm dead," she replied, though the smile was evident in her voice

"We'll see about that," Zuko laughed and tightened his grip.

What animalistic play both assassins had engaged in.

"Zuko, Prince Zuko, I will surrender on one condition."

"And the condition?"

"Please, I beg of you to tell me the whereabouts of my uncle."

He could hear the desperation in her voice mixed with laughter.

"Please trust me as I have trusted you."

He held her down for moments longer, but soon released her arms. She rolled off of the dirt and massaged her shoulders while the Prince considered her proposal.

"Why do you trust me?" his voice was hoarse and dry, "When I left you dying at the dungeon entrance?"

She stood up straight, brushing the debris from her hair. "Because you could've killed me, but apparently I'm still alive," there was a flicker of amusement in her eyes.

The girl winced at her bruising arms and legs, and then reached out to touch his jaw, "You're bleeding," she said softly, and her fingertips almost grazed the Prince's face. But he took a step back.

"Come with me Watertribe Princess,"

Her eyes met his for a second. "It's Katara."  
"Katara?"

"My name. It's Katara."

He watched her for a moment as she rolled up the sleeves of her torn dress. She was smeared with dirt, as was he, but they were both barefoot and grinning.

"Come with me Katara, I'll take you to your uncle."

-

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-

**Author's Note: Personally, this has been one of the most fun chapters to write. I loved the fight between Zuko and Katara near the end, and I tried really hard to make it seem realistic. Tell me how I did, and thus far the plot of the story is just starting to unravel. I've had some great constructive comments, and it really gave me that extra boost to continue writing. Thanks for all your love and support!**

**Warmest Regards,**

**Alicia!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

When they walked into the light of Lu Ten's workroom, they saw him huddled over a potted plant, his eyes deep in concentration. Lu Ten began mumbling to himself, revealing to the onlookers his scientific experiment.

"Hmm, this might do the trick. The leaf of the lan plant will complete the concoction… or it might be the len plant which would completely upset the chemical balance!" Lu Ten continued to inflict upon himself, unnecessary stress until Zuko cleared his throat. Lu Ten looked up and scrunched his eyes, then pulled back blinking.

"I see you two have been acquainted now," he said. "It must've been a friendly fight since you're both still alive," which was in its entirety, the truth.

"Are you alone?" Zuko asked.

"Of course," the Prince's cousin confirmed.

"I've told the Princess about her uncle."  
Lu Ten looked from Katara, to Zuko, and back to Katara, his eyes settling on her with a raised eyebrow.

"She's safe," Zuko credited, "I'm sorry for not consulting you earlier, but things didn't work out as we planned."

"Cousin, if you think she's safe even after-"he gestured to Zuko's bloodied face and torn clothes, "then I believe you."

Zuko nodded. "May we see him?"  
"Of course, I have great news as well. He's been conscious for the past two days."

-

-

-

Ozai's palace was connected together by a complex labyrinth of hidden passageways known only to the royal family. Both Zuko and Lu Ten's rooms had several of these passageways disguised beneath large mirrors and paintings. They were so plentiful that not even the Fire Lord himself knew all their whereabouts- no one did. As children, the prince and his cousin had gone on explorations, traveling miles through the tunnels, weaving in and out every corridor of the palace. Some they had memorized, the tunnel leading to the royal kitchen for example.

Pushing aside the heavy tapestry, Lu Ten found his grip on the wall's paneling, and gave it a light push. The bland panel slid aside easily, revealing a dark brass door. Producing a key from his robe, Lu Ten unlocked it and motioned for the pair to follow him. The tunnel aft melted into darkness.

"Relax," Zuko said, turning back to reassure the girl. He produced a small rhythmic flame in the palm of his hand and held it high to illuminate the darkness. Lu Ten guided the pair past multiple turns until they found themselves ascending a narrow stairway.

"Has he said anything yet?" Katara questioned Lu Ten, the worry evident in her eyes.

"No, he only revealed that he was blindfolded during his capture. He's still very weak and doesn't seem to recall much."

"Do you know who took him? Was the Earth Kingdom responsible?"

There was no reply, but a thick veil of uncertainty hung in the air.

The stairs ended at a doorway, Lu Ten reached into the sleeve of his robe and searched around the pockets until he was satisfied with the right key.

"The Fire Lord vaguely knows we've recovered your uncle, but he will never guess where we've hidden him. He grinned boyishly, proud of his cleverness and opened the door with a faint click. The trio crowded into the tiny alcove. Immediately, Katara rushed up to her uncle's sleeping form. The warm torchlight flickered unevenly as Zuko watched the blue-eyed girl whisper a prayer of thanks. He felt as if he was intruding on a very private reunion, and looked away until Katara stood up, smoothing the creases from her dress.

"Your cuts will come over with infection if you don't cleanse them soon Princess," Lu Ten pointed out.

"katara," she said. "Call me Katara."

Lu Ten smiled and nodded, slipping back through the tunnels. When Katara and Zuko turned around to look at the sleeping man once more, his eyes opened.

"Uncle," Katara gasped, rushing to his side once again.

His voice was raspy and dry, "Bring the lamp to your face child." On closer inspection, Hakoda's expression wrinkled. "What in La's name have you done to your face?"

"It's nothing you should worry over, Uncle. I was only engaged in a friendly fight."  
"With what," He snorted, "A pack of wolf-bats?"

Katara shook her head, laughing lightly all the while. "No, with the Prince, Prince Zuko."

Hakoda turned his stiff neck towards the doorway and inspected Zuko, who did his best to avoid the scrutinizing gaze.

"Please don't worry uncle," Katara reassured him. "It was only a friendly scuffle."

"It seems you've met your match Katara," Her uncle observed. "The two of you look dreadful."

Katara burst out in laughter, wiping away tears of relief. She laughed a lot, this Watertribe girl.

"Come here young prince." Hakoda spoke to Zuko. "Come to the light."  
Zuko came, and suddenly he felt conscious of all the dirt, debris, and newly inflicted battle wounds on his face.

"My Prince, I believe you've saved my life." The Watertribe man put a shaking hand on the Prince's and gave it a reassuring grip.

"No," Zuko denied. "If you were to credit someone for your life, it would be Lu Ten and his medicines."

"Yes," Hakoda agreed. "He's a very comforting fellow, and might I add a genius with herbs. But I saw what you did that night, slicing through ten soldiers at once with those broadswords of yours. You saved my life, though I don't know why. I doubt you have a favor indebted to the Watertribes."

"I have never met a Watertribe man before you, Lord Hakoda, but your people seem kind and free spirited," he added.

Hakoda closed his eyes with a smile and rested back down on the pillows,

"Talking has exerted him," Katara placed a hand on Zuko's shoulders. "Come; let us return before our absence is questioned."

"Ah, so he's asleep again," Lu Ten spoke as his head poked through the doorway. Tucked in his arm was a small white package which he handed to Katara. "Ice for the cuts on your-"He looked her up and down, "for everywhere," he grimaced. "It looks like you've a cut on your lip too. Where else does it hurt?"

Despite her pain, Katara was able to laugh. "Everywhere, I must admit. It feels like I've been trampled over by a herd or ostrich-horses!"

Lu Ten shook his head and with faux anger and chastised his cousin. "Really Zuko! Where you trying to kill her?"

"If I were trying to kill her," Zuko remarked dryly, "She'd be dead." This sent another wave of light laughter through Katara.

"And she's laughing, so it can't hurt that badly," The prince finished.

When Lu Ten insisted on a medical examination, he was able to conclude that Katara, indeed had no broken bones and acquired no cuts or bruises that wouldn't heal. Turning his inspection over to Zuko, he tossed the Prince a damp facecloth.

"Wipe the dried blood off your face," Lu Ten ordered, turning his face to hide the grin on it.

"What?" Zuko sneered, "What's so funny?"  
Lu Ten broke out laughing, "It's just…you look like you've been in a fight for the first time in your life!"

-

-

-

Zuko's quarters consisted of five rooms. His bedroom, decorated with red silk banners and tapestry that Lin had chosen for him since he refused to voice an opinion on the matter. His bathing room, white marble, large and cold, but definitely functional. His dining room was paneled with dark glass, allowing him to view the outside world, but none could peer back in. It looked out onto the courtyard, and occasionally he would dine there with Lu Ten or Lin. He had a sitting room lined with plush carpeting and crimson colored pillows. Zuko never used the sitting room. The fifth room was intentionally meant as a library and workroom, but over the years, the prince had transformed it into a small armory for his wide display of broadswords, daggers, and other weaponry. He had a square table placed in the center, and now several war meetings were held there.

Zuko bathed for the second time that day, letting the water rinse his wounds and scrubbing the dirt from his pale skin. He ran a hand through his wet hair, and stretched the sore muscles in his back. The prince dried himself and pulled a simple red shirt over his head and slipped on a pair of dark trousers. He made his way into the weaponry room, and lit the torches.

Lu Ten and Katara were the first to arrive. Katara's hair was wet from her own bath, and the cuts on her face had begun to lighten thanks to Lu Ten's medicinal concoctions. Her blue eyes were brighter in the torchlight, and she wore a new dress, a red one that opened at the neck and complimented the accents of her body. Though, Zuko didn't know why he should notice. Lu Ten slouched at the table as Katara's eyes scanned the array of weapons.

Orin soon strolled in, but stopped to gape at the cuts and bruises flawing Katara's face. He then turned to see the laceration in Zuko's jaw and focused his gaze back on Katara. He then slammed his hands on the table and howled in laughter.

"How I would have loved to see that fight!"

Katara smiled good naturedly, "Your Prince won by sheer strength, which I doubt will surprise you."

"It was," Zuko cut in, "a tie. Neither of us won."

A snort came through the doorway. "What is this _friendly_ scuffle I've been hearing so much about?" Jet interjected.

Jet had come along with Katara as an escort, though she was really quite capable of protecting herself.

"Jet," said Katara. "Don't be difficult."

Jet turned and fixed his gaze on her, "He had no right to attack you!"

"If you must know, I struck the first blow. Now sit down."

"If you struck first then he must have done something to provoke you!" Jet's hands were gripped dangerously tight to his two hooked shaped rods.

Katara rose to her full height, "Enough! If you think to disrespect the prince's council room once more, I will dismiss you permanently!"

Jet's teeth remained gritted.

"Please, Sir," Zuko had risen to his feet and his voice cut through the audience. "If I've insulted your lady, you must forgive my rudeness. I rarely have the chance to practice with a bender of her caliber, and I couldn't resist the temptation. I can assure you that every wound on her body will heal."

Jet didn't remove his hands from the two hooked swords, but his grimace lessened.

"I'm sorry to have disrespected you as well," Zuko continued. "Forgive my unpardonable actions. I should have taken greater care not to leave cuts on her face"

Jet's angry eyes relaxed, "I'm glad you understand my concern."

Zuko nodded in agreement. Katara tilted her head, attempting to comprehend the undecipherable language of men. She didn't understand how Zuko could have offended Jet, or how Jet was even involved in the situation. The waterbender hated how they turned her fight into an understanding of their own. Taken greater care not to leave cuts on her face? She was not pleased to see how they treated her like a porcelain figurine. Katara knew she could carry the weight of her own fights.

"Now then, since that's settled, shall we have a seat?" Lu Ten offered, obviously relieved that the conflict was settled civilly.

As the assembly took their seats, Zuko held Katara's gaze, mouthing the words, "Forgive me," though it was apparent enough for the entire council to observe.

Fifteen or so members attended the meeting including several of Orin's spies.

"Regretfully, I have no information to offer on the capture of Lord Hakoda," Orin began. "It is nearly impossible to smuggle a man between borders. Earth Kingdom security is tight, and Air Nomad territory is unreachable. It's possible that the kidnap was issued under singular purposes, and not as a political symbol."  
"That could be true," Zuko acknowledged. "It would be best, for security reasons, if the rescue of your uncle is kept secret," he spoke to Katara.

The girl nodded, "I agree."

"My sources will look into the matter." Orin concluded.

-

-

-

The meeting ended shortly after, and the information Orin had gathered was enough to keep the elite intellect occupied.

"You should send word to your family," the prince said Katara.

"Of course, I will fashion one immediately."

"Well then" Lu Ten stood up eagerly, "If all important matters have been discussed, I think it's time we retired."

Several council members followed in his lead and stretched their numb limbs.  
"Would you mind if we paraded through your bedroom chamber?" Lu Ten inquired the prince.

"Be my guest," Zuko waved, "I suppose it's better than parading through the corridors half past midnight."

The council members filed out one by one.

"Oh! And Zuko," Lu Ten patted his cousin on the shoulder and let out a deep yawn, "If you would be so kind as to escort Miss Katara back to her-"  
"It's alright Lu Ten, I'll handle it." Zuko cut in and allowed his tired cousin to be pulled into the wave of exiting men.

Jet bid Katara a good night, though he was reluctant to leave her unattended. Soon, the prince was left alone with the Watertribe princess.

Katara leaned against a shelf, "Am I not trusted to find my way back to my rooms unescorted?"

"Lu Ten meant for me to lead you through the inner passageways. People will talk if you're seen wandering alone at this hour. The men and women of court will turn the most mundane things into heated gossip."  
"Yes, I believe it to be true for most courts."

"Do you plan to stay long in the Fire Nation?"

"Only till my uncle is in the appropriate condition to travel back."

"You'll have to come up with an excuse for your stay, for isn't it generally known that you seek your uncle?"

Katara nodded, "If you agreed to have me as your sparring partner, it would be understandable."  
Zuko questioned her, "What do you mean?"  
"Well," she continued, "If you proposed to the court that I would be staying to train with you, it would serve as the perfect excuse to stay in the Fire Nation for a while longer."

Zuko began to extinguish the torches, "It seems reasonable."

"Also, it would be a valuable opportunity for both of us…"

Zuko stopped at the last torch. He was tired of easily disarming ten men and deflecting their blows without the least bit of effort. Katara, however, was a master bender. It would be a thrill to spar with her and to do it regularly would be a dream.

"And," the princess added, "The Fire Nation borders both Earth and Air territory. It would be the perfect operating base."  
She could do that, and nobody would have a reason to question it. Zuko put out the last torch and joined Katara in the hallway.

"Fine, I'll train with you," he lowered his voice in attempt to mask his content state.

"Wonderful," Katara smiled, "though, don't expect me to take more care of _your_ face anymore than I did today."

He caught the subtle hints in her voice, and decided against bringing the ruder side of Jet's behavior into the conversation. The prince allowed himself to chuckle slightly as he directed his gaze unto the floor, "Forgive me princes, I was only trying to make an ally of Jet. The only way, it seemed, was to assure your safety."

"Jet's a fool," Katara sighed, shaking her head with impatience.

"He reacted naturally enough," Zuko disregarded, "Regarding his position…"

Suddenly, forgetting about the question she'd been about to ask, regarding Jet and what in La's name his position was, Katara gently brought her fingertips to Zuko's chin and tilted it towards the light.

"It was my ring."  
Zuko didn't understand.

"It was my ring that cut your jaw."

"Your…ring?"

"Well, one of my rings."

It was one of Katara's rings that cut him, and now her fingertips touched his face. The touch lingered for a few moments, and Zuko could feel the familiar heat crawling back up his neck. Then, she slowly pulled her hand back and looked up at him so calmly, as if the contact they had just made was in its entirety, normal. As if he had any basis for comparison, no woman had ever touched him the way she just did. He couldn't decide if this was normal when one made friends.

_She was not normal_, he finally decided.

The moment dissolved when Zuko cleared his throat. He marched down the inner hallway, "Come," he said.

The prince could barely grasp the type of person she was. The girl was powerful and bold…in a charming way.

-

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**Author's Note: Yay! Updates! Alright, so I'd have to say that this chapter wasn't very conducive to the storyline, but it was a necessary step in Zuko & Katara's relationship. I feel like there's something important I need to say…but it eludes me. ..**

**Just a heads up, I'm going to be in Vegas starting Friday since it's my spring break and I get free shoes from Nike Town and free Alicia Keyes concert tickets from a friend (even though I don't really listen to her music, it's free so what the heck.)…who doesn't love free stuff am I right? So, my point is, I won't be updating for the next week or so.**

**On Thursday, two of my best friends are coming over and I'm gonna duct tape them down to the couch and force them to watch the entire Avatar the Last Airbender series. CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY'VE NEVER WATCHED IT!?!?!? I was appalled, and immediately worked a marathon day into my schedule. They will not leave my house until they watch the entire show. Since I have the ATLA DVD's, I can watch them all anytime. **

**So, my dear readers, I hope you will all strive to expand the Avatar fandom! **

**ZUTARA FOREVER!**

**-Alicia **

**P.S. wow...I'm amazed that my author's note is about 1/9 of this chapter! BE AMAZED AT MY MATH SKILLS! **

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**Also, I really wanted to thank all my reviewers. YOU GUYS ARE THE AWESOMEST SEXIEST PEOPLE ALIVE! (Oh, and your constructive words also help improve my writing.) Have I mentioned how awesome you guys are yet?**

**EmpressVicky-** WOOHOO! You're super special cuz you're my first reviewer! Thanks a bunch for the encouraging words! I agree! ZUTARA IS DEFINITELY THE HOTTEST PAIRING EVER!

**AnnaAnza-** YOU ROCK!

**Nephertiri-** All I have to say is, WOW. Your comment totally dragged me through my writer's block and into the light! I loved how insightful you were and I hope to continue writing "WONDERFUL AWESOME JUICE CHAPTERS!"

**EdWaRdCuLleNBItesPillows2432****- **I have to admit, your username is pretty epic. Yay for plots!

**Good Graces- **I did try a different approach on this story, so I'm glad you like my style!

**Turion-** You are INSANELY awesome! Thanks for having that long inspirational conversation with me! It really gave me a boost.

**Royalraven007-** Irony is the greatest thing ever realized by man…after sarcasm. ZUTARA SUPPORTERS UNITE!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

She was an amazing opponent. He couldn't hit her where he meant to, or as hard as he wanted. She was so quick to block or to twist, her movements as smooth and slippery as water itself. She would evade his every fire blast and his heated flames would deliquesce into cool steam as it met a wall of ice. He couldn't pin her to the ground when their fighting evolved to a practice of hand to hand combat, or disarm her.

She was so much quicker than he, and for the first time in his life, found his lesser speed to be a disadvantage. She was so finely tuned to her surroundings, and to his movements. She always slipped through, and that was also part of the challenge.

"I swear you can see in the dark," he said one night when he entered the practice room and she'd greeted him without looking round to identify him.

"What do you mean?"

"You always know what's happening behind you, even in the dark."

"Prince Zuko, do you never notice the noise you make when you burst into a room? No one flings doors open quite the way you do."

"Does the moon heighten your senses as a Waterbender?"  
She nodded her head. "Perhaps, but only so much as the sun does for you."

Though they were both equally powerful benders, Katara still got the worst of their fights because he was the stronger of the two. She might have been able to avoid a majority of the blows due to her endless stamina and speed, but try as she might, he still hit her. She stopped the fight once while he grappled to pin her arms and legs behind her back and aimed his blows towards her ribs.

"Doesn't that hurt?" He asked, gasping with exhaustion. "Don't you feel it?" I've hit you possibly twelve times, and you don't even flinch."

She sat up on her heels and ran a hand over her bruised sides and below her breast.

"It hurts, but not too badly."

She didn't wear her rings while they fought. She'd come with them the first day, but after he insisted it was an unnecessary precaution, she abruptly began removing them one by one until she was bare of native jewelry. He too was careful to remove the flame-shaped coronal pinned against his topknot.

"I promised Jet, didn't I?" he'd said, and that fight had begun with Katara ducking, and laughing as Zuko sent a wave of flames in her direction.

The bending pair almost always practiced in front of an audience of scattering soldiers or passing nobles. Orin, whenever he could spare the time, for the fights gave him so much pleasure. Jet, though he always seemed to be holding back an eruption of anger, came, but never stayed long. Even Lin came on an occasion, the only woman who did, and sat with wide eyes that grew wider the longer she sat.

Ozai did not come, which was, on the prince's part, a great relief.

They ate together most days, after practicing. In his dining room, alone, or in Lu Ten's workrooms, the prince's cousin often chattering excitedly about his newest herbal discovery. Sometimes, they dined at a small table Lu Ten had situated in Hakoda's room. Katara's uncle was still very ill, but company seemed to cheer and strengthen him.

When they sat together, in the calm of the afternoon breeze, sometimes the blue of Katara's eyes caught him off guard. He could never grow used to their cerulean hue, soaking him in like the depths of an ocean. But, he met them when she looked at him, and forced himself to breathe and talk and not become overwhelmed. They were eyes, they were only her eyes, and he wasn't a coward.

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She was a friend; and in the final few weeks of summer, for the first time in his life, Ozai's court became a place of productivity for Zuko. Orin's spies moved steadily, learning what they could in their travels to the different lands. Many of the nations, amazingly, were at peace. The heat seemed to bring a lull to Ozai's cruelty as well, or perhaps he was merely distracted by the rebellions lying in the northeast. Whatever the reason, Ozai did not summon Zuko to perform any of his nasty errands. The prince found himself daring to relax into summer's end.

Katara never ran out of things to say to Zuko.

"Your eyes," She said to him one day as they lounged in her uncle's room.

"What about them?"  
"They remind me of a tree back home."  
"Oh? Tell me about it."  
"Well," Katara began happily, "It only grows in the Spirit Oasis, where the air is warm. The tree is said to be the root of all spiritual connection. Its leaves are an ashen color most of the year, but during the Summer solstice, just as the sun rises, its leaves turn a deep gold. When the sun sets on the solstice, the tree sheds its golden leaves…"

Zuko watched her.

"The gold…it matches your eyes." The watertribe girl smiled.

The prince was caught in his own trail of thought.

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She watched him pile his plate high with bread, meat, fruit, and cheese and smiled as the food began to disappear almost as fast as he'd piled it up. Katara had a healthy appetite, but Zuko was something else altogether.

"What's the most beautiful part of the Fire Nation?" Katara asked.

Zuko continued to chew his bread quietly.

"Aren't you going to answer?"

"Katara. Is it too much for you to understand that a man might be hungry after you've beaten him half to death? I'm beginning to think it's part of your fighting strategy, keeping me from eating. You want me weak and faint."

"For someone who's the Fire Nation's finest fighter," she said, "you have a delicate constitution."

Zuko laughed and put his fork down. "All right, all right. How can I describe this?

He picked his fork up again and used it to draw a picture in the air as he spoke. "My mother had a garden behind the palace, blooming with fire lilies. They're a stunning red and terrifyingly beautiful. It's a shame they only blossom a few weeks per year."

Katara took an apple for herself. "In the Water tribes, the palaces are made of ice and the ocean around stretches for miles. Do you intend to travel? I'd love to show you one day, Prince Zuko. It's truly the most wonderful place to go home to. I could stare at the sea forever…"

Zuko answered softly, "It must be, a palace by the sea. I couldn't imagine anything more enchanting."

"Uncle!" Katara said suddenly. She jumped up and turned to the bed confirming that he had awoken.

"Is it your father's palace you speak of? Her uncle asked in a raspy voice.

Katara brushed the question aside. "Uncle, how are you feeling?"

Zuko ate another peach and listened to them talk. His head was full of things Katara had said. He hadn't known there were sights in the world so beautiful a person would want to spend an age staring at them.

Katara turned to him then, and a torch on the wall caught the gleam of her eyes. She focused on breathing. "I have a weakness for beautiful sights," she said. "My brother teases me about it"

"Your brother is the foolish one," Hakoda said, "for not seeing the strength in beautiful things. Come here, child," he motioned towards Zuko. "Let me see your eyes, for they make me stronger."

And his kindness brought a smile to the prince's face, though his words were nonsense. He went to sit beside Lord Hakoda, and listened as Katara told him more about her people, and her palace by the sea.

-

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"Have you known Jet long?" Zuko asked her late one morning. They sat on the floor of their practice room, drinking water and resting.

"Oh yes, we were friends since childhood. Both his parents were Earth Kingdom merchants, and their ship was raided during a trade. During a whaling hunt, my father found him aboard the ship, in his dead mother's arms. Jet was mature for a child of ten years, and he vowed to serve the Water Tribe Royal family. He's been guarding me ever since."

Jet had come to their practice today. He'd been the only visitor, and he hadn't stayed long. She didn't know why he came, when it always seemed to put in him a bad mood.

Zuko lay on his back and looked up at the high ceiling. The light poured into the room from the great, east-facing windows. The days were beginning to shorten, and soon the air would crispen. The palace would smell of burning hickory from the fireplaces, and leaves would crackle under his ostrich-horses' hooves when he went riding.

It had been such a quiet couple of weeks. He would like a Council task- he'd like to get out of the city and stretch his legs. The prince wondered if Orin had any news about the capture of Katara's Uncle. Perhaps he could go again to the Earth Kingdom and poke around for information.

"How will you answer Jet when he asks you to marry him? Zuko asked. "Will you accept?"  
Katara sat up, and stared at him. "That's an absurd question."

"Absurd-why?" His face was clear of emotion. She didn't think he was teasing her.

"Why in La's name would Jet ask me to marry him?"  
Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Katara. You're not serious."

She looked at him genuinely confused, and now he did begin to worry.

"Katara, don't you know Jet's in love with you?"

Katara smirked. "Don't be ridiculous. Jet and I are only friends; he swore loyalty to my family, that's all."

Zuko shook his head, and began to laugh. "Katara, how can you be so blind? He's completely mad for you! Don't you see how jealous he is? Don't you remember how he reacted during our first encounter when I accidentally bruised your face?"  
An unpleasant feeling began to knot in her stomach. "I don't see what that has to do with it. And besides, how would you know? I don't believe Jet confides in you."

Zuko laughed again. "No," he said. "No, he certainly doesn't. I imagine he thinks any man who fights you as I do is no better than dirt."

"You let your thoughts wander too far off," Katara said. "Jet lives to point out my each and every flaw."

"I can't make you see it, Katara, if you're determined on denying it." Zuko stretched onto his back and yawned. "All the same, I might think up a response if I were you. Just in case he were to propose."

Katara closed her eyes in disbelief for a few moments. "I'll have to ice my shoulder, as usual. I'd say you won again today, Zuko."

She jumped to her feet. "Are we done here?"  
"I suppose so." Zuko said. "Are you hungry?"  
She disregarded him and marched out the door. She left him lying on his back in the light of the windows and ran to find Lu Ten.

-

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Katara burst into Lu Ten's workrooms. She found the prince's cousin seated at a table and huddled over a book.

"Are you alone?" Katara shot.

He looked up, surprised. "Yes-"

"Is Jet in love with me?"  
Lu Ten blinked. "He's never spoken to me about it," Lu Ten spoke slowly. "But yes, I think anyone who knows him would say he's in love with you."

"How can he-"She paced to the table.  
"Has he said something to you?" Lu Ten asked, obviously interested in the conversation's direction.

"No. Zuko told me." She spun towards him. "And why did you never tell me?"  
"Princess Katara." He neatly bookmarked his page and set the book down. "I thought you knew. I don't see how you could not. He concerns himself with every affair of yours and always sits beside you during dinners."

Katara sighed. "This is horrible…how did I involve myself in such a situation as this?"

Lu Ten, assuming the role of an elder brother began, "If he asks you to marry him, you'll say no. You'll tell him it's nothing to do with him, and that you're determined not to marry yet. Whatever you need to say, say it so he understands your being is of no concern of his."

"I wouldn't marry Jet to save my life," Katara said. "Not even to save yours."

"Well." Lu Ten's eyes were full of familiar laughter. "I'd leave that part out."

Katara sighed again and walked to the door.

"You're not the most perceptive person I've ever known, Katara." Lu Ten remarked, "If you don't mind me saying so. But your capacity for missing the obvious is astonishing."

She threw her arms into the air and turned to go. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back to him suddenly, at a shocking thought. "_You're_ not in love with me, are you?

Lu Ten stared at her for a moment, speechless. Then he burst into laughter. Katara was too relieved to be offended.

"All right, all right," she said, "I suppose I deserve that."

"My dear Katara," he said, "Jet is so very handsome, are you sure you won't reconsider?" Lu Ten clutched his stomach and guffawed. Katara waved his nonsense away; he was hopeless. She turned to go.

"Council meeting tonight," Lu Ten said to her back.

She raised her hand to show she'd heard, and closed the door to his laughter.

-

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"The four nations are at peace, for the most part," Orin said. "We've convened a meeting, because we have information regarding the Lord Hakoda that we can't make any sense of. We're hoping that you'll have some ideas."

Katara had strategically seated Lu Ten between Jet and herself. Jet could not possibly see her; but just in case, she'd positioned Lin between them as well. Orin and Zuko were across from her.

Zuko sat back in his chair and watched Katara's eyes, glimmering in the corner of his vision no matter which way he looked.

"The Lord Bei Fong gave us true information on some accounts," Orin spoke. "None in Omashu nor the border Fire Nation and Earth kingdom territories were involved. We're almost certain that General Fong is also innocent."  
"Could it have been a noble of the upper Ba Sing Se tier then?" Jet asked.

"But with what motive?" Zuko asked.

"He has no motive," Lu Ten said. "But then, he has no fewer motives than anyone else. It's what we keep coming up against." There is no motive for anyone to have done this. Even Katara- Princess Katara- has been able to come up with none.

Katara nodded. "My uncle's only importance is to his family."  
"And if someone had it in mind to provoke the Water Tribe royal family," Jet said, "wouldn't they reveal themselves eventually? Otherwise, the power play becomes pointless."

"Has Lord Hakoda said anything more?" Orin asked.

"He's said they blindfolded him," Katara replied, "and drugged him. He's said he was on a boat for a long time, and their land travel was shorter in comparison, which suggest his captors took him east by boat from the Water Tribe, possibly to one of the southern Earth Kingdom ports. And then up through the forests.

"Katara," Zuko said. "Your uncle had no argument with your father, perhaps your brother? Your mother?"  
"None," Katara answered. "I'm sure of it."

"I don't see how you can be so sure," Jet said.  
Katara's eyes flashed to him. "You'll have to take my word, _Jet_. Neither my father nor my brother nor my mother nor anyone else in the Water Tribe was involved in the kidnapping."

"Katara's word is good enough for the Council," Lu Ten confirmed. "And if it wasn't any of the Earth Kingdoms, Water Tribes, and most certainly not the Fire Nation, than that leaves very few suspects."  
Zuko raised an eyebrow. "Have none of you considered the Air Nomads?"  
"The monks with a reputation for kindness to travelers," Jet said, "a bit unlikely, don't you think?"

"We've made inquiries and uncovered nothing." Orin said.

"Venerable Master Gyatso is a peace-loving man. Either it's an Earth Kingdom noble we have yet to conjure, or one of the kings is keeping a secret even from his own spies."

"Couldn't we find one of Lord Be Fong's people? I could make him talk." Zuko suggested.  
"Not without revealing your identity, My Lord," Orin pointed out.

"But he could kill the man," Jet interjected, "after he's finished questioning."  
"Now, hold on." Zuko held up his hand in disagreement. "I said nothing of killing."  
"Lady Katara should be the one to do it anyway," another council member tossed.

"Lord Bei Fong wouldn't question the motivation of the Watertribe Princess. Actually, the Bei Fong noble would expect it of her. In fact, I don't see why you haven't done it already," Jet said to Katara, "if you wish so much to know who's responsible."

Zuko was quite irritated, "It's because the Bei Fong family can't know that Katara knows which king is involved, he said. "How would Katara explain that knowledge, without revealing her collaboration with the Fire nation?"

"But that's why you can't question the nobleman's people, Katara, unless you're willing to kill afterwards." Jet thumped his hand on the table and glared at her.

"All right," Lu Ten cut in, "all right. We're going in circles."

Katara sat back, holding in every rude remark she was about to spit at Jet.

"Katara," Lu Ten said, "The information isn't worth the risk to you or to the Council. Nor, I think is it worth the violence."

She sighed, inwardly. He was right, of course.

"Perhaps it'll be worth it someday in the future when all our information is organized. But for now, your uncle is safe, and we've seen no sign from any of his possible captors if he was to be targeted again. Princess Katara, if there are steps you wish to take, that's your affair, though I'd ask you to discuss it with us first."  
"I must think on it," Katara said.  
"Then the matter is closed for now," Lu Ten finished, "until we learn something new, or until Katara comes to a decision. Orin? Is there anything else we must regard?"

Orin began to inform the council members on information he gathered from the south. Eventually, the conversation led to idle talk of odd forest animals discovered by villagers, and then there was laughter at the table. Orin began another story, but Zuko's thoughts wandered to the Air Nomads. He felt Katara's gaze, and he glanced at her from across the table. Her eyes were on his, but she didn't see him. Her mind was elsewhere. She got that look sometimes, when they sat together after their fights.

He watched her face. The cut on her cheek was no more than a thin red line now. It would leave a faint scar, and he found himself wondering if it would bruise her Watertribe vanity, but then he smiled within himself. She wasn't really vain. She hadn't cared in the least when he bruised her face and had done nothing to hide the gashes on her arms. And besides, no vain person would choose to fight him, day after day. No vain woman would put her body at the mercy of his hands.

The sleeves of her dress covered her slender wrists, and the neckline of her shirt exposed. Her manners were so careless, and he found his eyes resting on the shadows in the hollows of her neck, then rose to her face again. He supposed she would have a reason to be vain. She was beautiful enough, with her dark locks and tanned features. And even those azure eyes. Even they might be considered beautiful.

Her eyes came back into focus then and looked into his. A mischievous glint shone, and a small smile spread across her face, almost as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, exactly what he'd decided upon about his claims to her vanity. Zuko's face closed, and he glowered at her.

The meeting ended, and chairs scraped the tiled floors. Lu Ten pulled Katara aside to speak of something, and he was grateful for the excuse to turn away. He wouldn't have to see Katara again until their next fight. And the fights always returned relaxed him.

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**Author's Note:** Pretty fast update right? Yes? No? IDK?!? Haha! Anyways, I'm really getting into the story, it's a real stress reliever to just come home and type up a Zutara Fanfic. Nothing gives me more joy!  
Anyways, I DO know that Hakoda is Katara's father originally in the story. I just felt like making him her uncle in this story…because I felt like it…and I'm the author…and this is an AU…so yeah…

**OMG! I'm so sad that Shyamalan is making Dev Patel Zuko in the new ATLA movie. It's heartbreaking because he doesn't look like ZUKO at all.**

**ALL US ZUTARIANS SHOULD UNITE TOGETHER AND WRITE A PETITION TO M. Night. Shyamalan saying that someone who resembles Zuko more should play Zuko in the movie and that the ending should be made into ZUTARA not KATAANG!!! **

Oh goodness, did I get carried away? Yeah...probably did.

Anyways, I'm just happy to have finished this chapter.

Happy reading!  
-Alicia

P.S. it's late and I there might have been a few spelling and grammatical errors that I overlooked. So please forgive me if you happen to catch any.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The next morning Ozai came to their practice for the first time. He stood at the side, so that everyone in the room was compelled to stand as well and watch him instead of the fighters they'd come to see. Zuko was glad to fight, glad for the excuse to ignore his father. Except, he couldn't ignore him. The Fire Lord was so tall and broad, and he stood against the red walls in flaring gold and red robes. His bitter laugh carried into every corner of the room. He couldn't shake the sense of him-and there must be something he wanted. He never sought out his bending killer unless there was something he wanted.

He had been running through a drill with Katara when Ozai had arrived, a drill that was giving him some trouble. It began with Zuko on his knees and Katara behind him, pinning his arms behind his back. His task was to break free of Katara's grip and then grapple with her until he had trapped her in the same position. He could always fight his way free of Katara's grip, but that wasn't the problem. It was the counter pin that frustrated him. Even if he managed to knock her down to her knees and trap her arms, he couldn't keep her down. It was a matter of strength and speed. He needed to find a holding position that would make the effort of rising too painful to be worth her while.

They began the drill again. He knelt with Katara at his back, and the waterbender's hands tightened around his wrists. Zuko was ready for her this time. He twisted out of her grip and she was quick to pin him back down. She pummeled his stomach and hooked her foot between his legs and battered him to his knees. He pushed himself upward and yanked at her arms. Her right shoulder- that was the one she was always icing. He twisted his opponent's right arm and leaned all his weight against it, so that any attempt to move would require her to wrench her shoulder and bring more pain to it than he was already causing her to feel.

"I surrender," she gasped. He released her, and she struggled to regain the proper posture. She massaged her shoulder.

"Good work Katara."

"Again," she demanded, a competitive air hanging about her.

They ran through the drill again, and then again once more, the results were evenly matched.

"It seems you've got it," Zuko said. "Good. What next?"

His name cut through the air then. He'd been right. Ozai hadn't come only to watch; and now, before all these people, he must act pleasant and civil. He fought against the scowl that rose to his face, and turned to the Fire Lord.

"It's so amusing," Ozai said, "to see you struggling with an opponent, Zuko."

"I'm glad it gives you amusement, My Lord."

"Princess Katara, how do you find our strongest bender?"

Katara offered a fake smile, "He's the superior fighter by far, Lord Ozai." Katara replied. "If he didn't hold himself back, I'd be outmatched."

Ozai laughed a cynical laugh, "Indeed. I've noticed it's you who comes to dinner bruised and bloodied. My son, though, much less."

Pride in his possession. Zuko forced himself to unclench his fists. He forced himself to breathe, to hold his father's gaze even though he wanted to scratch the nasty smile off of his pale flesh.

"Zuko," the Fire Lord said. "Come to my council room at noon. I have a task for you."  
"Yes, Father," he responded.

Ozai leaned back on his heels and surveyed the room. Then with his servants behind him, he exited with a swish of red robes, and Katara stared after him until he and his entourage had vanished.

-

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-

Around them, the nobles and soldiers eased their way back into friendly demeanors. Zuko was vaguely aware of their movements. Vaguely aware of Katara's gaze, fixed on him, silently.

"What's it to be now, Prince Zuko?"  
He knew what he wanted. He felt it shooting down his arms and into his fingers, tingling in his legs and feet.

"A straight fight," He said. "Anything fair. Until one of us surrenders."  
Katara narrowed her eyes. She considered his tight fists and his hard mouth. "We'll have that fight, but we'll have it tomorrow. We're done for today."  
"No. We fight."  
"Zuko. We're done."

He stalked up to her, close, so that no one else could hear. "What's the matter, Katara? Do you fear me?"

"Yes, I fear you, as I should when you're angry. I won't fight you when you're angry. Nor should you fight me when I'm angry. That's not the purpose of these practices."  
How could she be so calm? So levelheaded when he was hanging on the thin thread of self-control? But when she told him he was angry, he realized it was true. And just as quickly, his anger fizzled into despair. Ozai would send him on another strong-arm mission. He would send him to hurt some poor petty criminal, some fool who deserved to keep his fingers even if he was dishonorable. His father would send him, and he must go, for the power sat with him.

-

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-

They ate in his dining room. Zuko stared at his plate. She was talking about her brother, how her brother would love to see their practices. He must come to the Southern Watertribe one day and display his firebending skills. They'd be amazed, and they'd honor him greatly. And she could show him the most beautiful sights in her father's city.

He wasn't listening. He was picturing the arms he'd broken for his father. The arms bent the wrong way at the elbow, bone splinters sticking through the skin. She said something about her shoulder, and he shook himself, and looked at her.

"What did you say?" he asked. "About your shoulder? I'm sorry."

She dropped his gaze and fiddled with her fork. "Your father has quite an effect on you," she said. "You haven't been yourself since he walked into the practice room."

"Or maybe I have been myself, and the other times I'm not myself."  
"What do you mean?" the blue-eyed girl tilted her head.

"My father see's me not as his son, but as his personal killer. Sent to do his unquestionable bidding."

"I don't believe you to be savage, if that's what you imply…Zuko." Her voice softened.

He sighed, sharply. "You haven't seen me kill a man, my father's enemies."

She raised her cup to her lips and drank, then lowered it, watching him. "What will the Fire Lord ask of you this time?"

He pushed the fire down that rose up from his stomach. He wondered what would happen if he slammed his plate on the ground, how many pieces it would break into.

"It'll be some lord who owes him money," he said, "or who refused to agree to some bargain, or who looked at him wrong. I'll be told to hurt the man, enough so that he never dishonors my father again."  
"And you'll do what he commands of you? Isn't it in your power to refuse?" Katara asked. "How can anyone force you do anything?

The fire burst into his throat and choked him. "He is the Fire Lord. And you're a fool too, if you think I have a choice in the matter."  
"But you do have a choice. He's not the one who makes you savage. You make yourself savage, when you bend yourself to his will."  
He sprang to his feet and swung at her jaw with the side of his hand. He lessened the force of the blow only at the last instant, when he realized she hadn't raised her arm to block him. His hand hit her face with a sickening crack. He watched, horrified, as her chair toppled backward and her head slammed against the floor. He'd hit her hard. And she hadn't defended herself.

He ran to her. She lay on her side, both hands over her misshaped jaw. Tears streamed from her eyes, over her fingers, and onto the floor. The pain in her voice sent a wave of sickness through him. He knelt beside her and touched her shoulder.

"Did I break your jaw? Can you speak?" The panic numbed him.

She shifted then, pushed herself up to a sitting position. She felt at the side of her jaw and opened and closed her mouth. She moved her jaw left and right.

"Fractured maybe." Her voice was barely above an audible whisper.

Zuko put his hands to her face and felt the bones under her skin. He felt the other side of her face to compare. He could tell no difference, and he caught his breathe wit h relief.

"It's not broken," he confirmed, "though it seems it should be." His voice hitched, "I pulled back when I realized you weren't fighting me."

Katara was silent. He dipped his hands into the water pitcher for ice and brought it to her jaw.

"Why didn't you fight back?"  
She held the ice to her face, but again, was silent.

"Katara…" the regret of his expression was enough to repay for a lifetime of crimes.

She looked at him, and sighed. "I told you before, Zuko. I won't fight when you're angry. I won't solve a disagreement between us with blows." She lifted the ice and fingered her jaw. Another stream of tears dripped down her chin with pain.  
"We don't solve disagreements that way," she began again, holding back the true weight of her pain "we're friends, Zuko." She urged on.

Shame pricked behind his eyes. It was so elemental, so obvious.

"We're too dangerous to each other, Zuko. And even If we weren't, it's not right."  
"I'll never do it again," he said, taking her hands in his, "I swear to it"

She caught his eyes then, and held them. "I know you won't Zuko. Don't blame yourself. You expected me to fight back. You wouldn't have struck me otherwise."

Katara considered him for a moment. "What do you think would happen," he said, "if you refused to do what Ozai ordered?"

He didn't know the truth exactly, "If I don't do what he says, he'll become angry. When he becomes angry, I'll become angry. And then I'll want to kill him."  
"Hm." She worked on her mouth back and forth. "You're afraid of your own anger."  
He stopped then and looked at her, because that seemed right to him. He was afraid of his own anger.

"But Fire Lord Ozai isn't even worth your anger," Katara said. "He's no more than a bully."

Zuko snorted, steam blowing from his nostrils. "A bully who chops off people's fingers or breaks their arms."  
"Not if you stop doing it for him," Katara said. "Much of his power comes from you."  
He was afraid of his own anger: He repeated it in his mind. He was afraid of what he would do to the Fire Lord-and with good reason. Look at Katara, her jaw red and beginning to bruise. He'd learned to control his fire, but he hadn't learned to control his anger. And that meant he still didn't control every aspect of his Firebending.

"Should we move back to the table?" She suggested, for they were still sitting on the floor.

"You should probably go see Lu Ten," he said, "just to be sure nothing's broken." His eyes dropped. "Forgive me, Katara."  
Katara steadied her knees and reached for Zuko's hand. He pulled her up.

"You're forgiven, Prince Zuko."

He shook his head, disbelieving her kindness. "Your Watertribe customs are so odd; your reactions are never what mine would be. You, so calm, when I've hurt you so badly. Your uncle's sister so strange in her grief."  
Katara narrowed her eyes then. "What do you mean?"  
"About what? Isn't Lady Kyani of the Watertribe, Avatar Aang's wife? The word is, she stopped eating when she heard of her brother-your uncle's- disappearance. You didn't know? And then she closed herself and her child into her rooms. And would not let anyone enter, not even her husband."  
Katara gasped, "Aang…the Avatar…Aang could it be him?" A color of emotions wiped through her eyes, but Zuko continued on.

"Nor anyone else," Zuko said, "except a handmaiden to bring them meals."  
"Why did no one tell me about this before?"  
"I assumed you knew, Katara. I'd no idea it would matter so much to you. Are you close with the Avatar or his wife?"

Katara stared at the table, at the mess of melting ice and their half-eaten meal. Her mind was elsewhere, her brows furrowed.

"Katara, what is it?"  
She shook her head. "It's not how I would've expected Lady Kyani to behave," she said. "But it's no matter. I must find Lu Ten."

He watched her face then. "There's something you're not telling me."  
She wouldn't meet his eyes. "How long will you be away on the Fire Lord's errand?"  
"It's not likely to be more than a few days."  
"When you return, I must speak with you."  
"Why don't you speak with me now?"  
She shook her head. "I need to think."

Why were her eyes so uneasy? Why was she looking at the table and the floor, but never into his face?

It was concern, for her uncle's sister. It was worry for the people she cared about. For that was her way, this Watertribe girl. Her friendship was true.

She looked at him then. The smallest of smiles flickered across her face, but it didn't light up her eyes.  
"Don't feel too kindly toward me, Zuko. Neither of us is blameless as a friend."  
She left him then, to find Lu Ten. He stood and stared at the place where she'd just been. And tried to shake off the eerie sense that she had just answered something he'd thought, rather than something he'd said.

-

-

-

**Author's Note: GAHH!!! I KNOW!! It's a short chapter! Although there wasn't much going on in the chapter, it was quite necessary since I introduced a new character. (Kyani) Oh, and I know you must be thinking. DAMN YOU ALICIA! CREATING ANOTHER O.C.! Yeah..I hate O.C.'s too...but it really can't be helped –sigh- I think Kyani is a nice name though, it does sound watertribe doesn't it? Kya, Katara, Kyani, it kinda fits right in there. Anyways, new chapter very soon. Just thought, I'd tell you that. Thanks, you guys have been awesome and I'm really happy for all the support.**

**Again, just because I know none of you get tired of this: DISCLAIMIER! BLAH BLAH AVATAR DOESN'T BELONG TO ME!! NOR DOES THE BASIS FOR THIS STORY SINCE I WAS INSPIRED BY THIS AWESOME FANTASY NOVEL I READ! I DUNKED THE STORY INTO THE AVATAR WORLD AND KABAM! HERE'S THE STORY!**

**TTYL PEEPS!**

**-Alicia **

-sighs- I still can't get over that this was a short chapter. Usually my chapters are 9 pages..but this one is only 7…oh well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Not that it was the first time she'd left him with that feeling. Katara had a way about her. She knew his opinions, sometimes before he expressed them. Sometimes he felt as if she knew him better than he knew himself. She looked at him from across a table and knew he was angry, and why; or that he'd decided she was particularly beautiful, but not vain.

It was ironic, since Lu Ten told her she wasn't perceptive. Perhaps she just wanted to deny Jet's love, since she didn't love him back. It was complicated. But regardless of what Lu Ten told Katara, Zuko knew she was perceptive. And talkative. Maybe that's why they got along so well. He didn't have to explain himself to Katara, and she explained herself to him without him having to ask. He'd never known a person with whom he could communicate so freely-so unused was he to the phenomenon of friendship.

He mused about this as the ostrich-horses carried them west, until the hills began to even out and give way to dry rocky floors, and the pleasure of hard riding distracted him.

Orin was in a good mood, for this was his country. They would visit his estate on their way to one just beyond his. They would sleep in his manor, first on their outward journey and then again on their return. Orin rode eagerly and fast, and though Zuko paid him no mind, for once he couldn't complain their pace.

"It's a bit awkward, isn't it?" Orin said, when they stopped at midday to rest. "For the Fire Lord to have asked you to punish my neighbor, and for me to accompany you on this."  
"It is awkward," another soldier agreed. "Lord Ran is a good neighbor. I can't imagine what has possessed him to create trouble with Fire Lord Ozai."

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, "My father has demanded that Ran's daughters serve in his…_court_" his eyebrows arched, elasticizing the meaning of the word. "Lord Ran refused, but he was only doing so to protect the dignity of his daughters. He has two daughters of marriageable age. Two daughters, and two very great dowries. Ozai had ordered Ran to choose which daughter he would prefer to send to his _court_ and which he would keep."  
_"Choose the daughter who is stronger in spirit," Ozai had written, "for it is not a match for the weak hearted."_

Lord Ran had refused to choose either daughter.

"_Both of my daughters are strong in spirit," He wrote to the Fire Lord, "but I will send neither to your court."_  
And that was that. All the men understood.

Zuko felt empathy for the man he was sent forth to injure. Lord Ran was a brave man, as brave as any Ozai had come up against. Ozai wanted Orin to talk to Ran, and if it talk didn't work, he wanted Zuko to hurt the nobleman-in the presence of his daughters, so that one of them would step forward and offer herself to the position of Ozai's court to protect her father. The Fire Lord expected them to return to his court with one or the other of the daughters, and her dowry.

"This is a gruesome task we're asked to perform," Orin said.

"Even without Ran being your neighbor, it's gruesome."  
"It is," Zuko agreed. "But I see no way around it."

They sat on an outcropping of stone and ate bread and fruit. Zuko watched the long grass moving around them. The wind pushed it, attacked it, struck it in one place and then another. It rose and fell and rose again, like a wavering heartbeat. It flowed like waves.

"Is this what the sea is like?" Zuko asked, as Orin turned to him.

"It is indeed, My Lord," he replied, "But different. The sea makes rushing noises, and it's gray and cold. But it does move a bit like this."  
"I should like to see the sea," the prince said.

Orin eyed him curiously.

"What? Is it such a strange thing to say?" Zuko inquired.  
"It's a strange thing for you to say." He shook his head. "You are the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and a bender. The Fire within you should elementally repel the ocean. Why you would want to see the ocean is beyond my comprehension."

He gathered their bread and fruit, then rose. "That Watertribe girl is filling your mind with romantic notions." He went to saddle his ostrich-horse.

Zuko ignored him so that he didn't have to think about his own notions of romance or his embarrassment. He rode across the flatlands, and imagined he rode across the sea.

o

o

o

It was more difficult to ignore Jet than she had planned. She would tell herself to exhale and smile as he passed her by, sometimes in the corridors and during meals. But Jet's hope bewildered her. She couldn't fathom his foolishness, to fall in love with her, and she still didn't entirely believe it to be true.

o

o

o

Katara said it was in his power to refuse Fire Lord Ozai. And maybe it _was_ in his power, but not Orin or any other soldier, because Ozai could punish them in ways he couldn't punish his most powerful bender. Could his father punish him? He could use his entire army, perhaps, to force him into the dungeons. His father could kill him. Not in a fight, but he could poison the meals sent to his room. If his father lost interest at him for even a moment, the crown prince's life would surely be hanging by a thread.

When Zuko woke up, he decided for himself. He decided that he would not hurt an innocent man, guilty of only trying to protect his daughters. He didn't know what would happen today, only that he would not take a single life. He threw back the blankets and thought only of today.

Lord Ran's manor was a few short hours' ride to the east. When they arrived, a servant showed them into the great library, were the lord of the house sat waiting. The walls were lined with books, some so high they could only be reached by ladders made of fine dark wood that leaned against the shelves. Ran stood as the procession entered, his eyes bold and his chin high. He was a small man with a thatch of black hair, and small fingers which were clenched with worry.

"I know why you're here, Prince Zuko." He said.

Zuko cleared his throat. "We wish to talk with you, and with your daughters."  
"I will not bring my daughters into present company." He was strict, and obstinate.

Now it was time for him to act. "Lord Ran," he said, "If you care at all for the lives of your family, you'll send them to this room immediately."  
Orin glanced, surprised at the Prince's firm tone. This was certainly not his usual mode of operation. "Prince Zuko-"

He was cut off. "Don't waste my time, Lord Ran," Zuko said. "I can remove them myself if you will not."  
The man's shoulders tensed, and the lines on his faced hardened. But he held Zuko's gaze. Never flinching for a moment. He made no motion.

Zuko's voice was low, "The Fire Lord wishes us to talk you into sending one of your daughters to serve in his royal court. I imagine we're unlikely to succeed."  
Ran's fists were gripped so tightly, his knuckles turned white. "Correct."  
Zuko nodded. "Very well. That failing, the Fire Lord wishes me to torture you until one of your daughters steps forward and offers herself to serve the Fire Lord."

Ran's face held stiff. "I suspected that much."

Orin's voice was a shaking hush. "Zuko, what are you doing?" It was not a situation for formalities.

"The Fire Lord," Zuko said, and then he felt a rush of blood to his head that he touched the desk to steady himself. "The Fire Lord is just in some matters. In this matter, he displays the epitome of tyranny. But the Fire Lord doesn't punish his subjects personally-he looks to me for that. And I-" Zuko felt strong suddenly. He straightened his back and tilted his chin higher. "I won't do what my father commands of me. I won't force you or your daughters to obey such an absurd wish of his. My lord, you may do what you will."

The room was silent. The Lord's eyes were large with astonishment, and he leaned heavily on the desk now, as if the fear had leaked away, leaving him limp. Beside Zuko, Orin didn't seem to be breathing.

"Well," Lord Ran said. "Th-this is a miracle, My Prince. I thank you, My prince indeed. I can't thank you enough."  
Zuko didn't think a person should thank him for not causing pain. Causing joy was worthy of thanks, and causing pain was worthy of disgust. Causing neither was neither, it was nothing, and nothing didn't warrant thanks.

"You don't owe me gratitude," he said. "And I fear this won't put an end to your troubles with the Fire Lord."

"Prince Zuko." It was one of his soldiers. "Are you certain this is what you want?"  
"What will your father do to you?" Orin asked.

"Whatever you choose," we'll support you.

"No," Zuko shouted. "You must do everything in your power to convince the Fire Lord that this decision was mine and mine only."  
"But my prince, we can't stand by and let you-"  
Zuko spoke deliberately. "If he knows you disobeyed him, he'll imprison you, or kill you. He can't hurt me the way he can hurt you. I don't think his entire guard could capture me. And if they did, at least I don't have anyone who truly needs me." He turned around and looked at his soldiers. "Many of you have wives and children, waiting for your return. I have none."

Orin tried to speak. "I won't-"

He would make him see this. He would cut through his obtuseness and make him see this. Zuko slammed his hand on the desk so hard that papers cascaded onto the floor. "I'll kill the Fire Lord," he said. "I'll Kill the Fire Lord, unless you all agree not to support me. This is my rebellion, and mine alone, and if you don't agree, I swear to Agni I will murder my father."

He didn't know if he would do it. But he knew it seemed wild enough for them to believe he would.

"Say you agree," Zuko finished.

Orin cleared his throat. "It will be as you wish my lord."  
The other men hung their heads in silence, reluctant vibes echoed.

Zuko turned to Lord Ran. "Ran, if Fire Lord Ozai learns that my captain and soldiers agreed to this willingly, I'll know that you spoke. I'll kill you. I'll kill your daughters in the most agonizing way. Do you understand?"

"I understand, My Lord. And I can't thank you enough."

Something caught in his throat at this second thanks, when he'd threatened him so brutally. When you're a monster, he thought, you are thanked and praised for not behaving like a monster. He would like to restrain from cruelty and receive no admiration for it.

He was a monster sickened by his own savagery. When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster?

o

o

o

Katara wanted to be by herself. But when Jet stepped out of the shadows, tall and quiet, she wished they were in a great hall with hundreds of people. A party even, she in a dress and horrible shoes. A dance. Any place other than alone with Jet.

"You're shooting arrows at a target in the dark." Jet said.

She lowered her bow. She supposed this was one of his criticisms. "Yes," she said, for she could think of no other response.

"Are you as good a shot in the dark as you are in the light?"  
Katara shrugged, "Perhaps. The moon guides me even in the darkest of hours."

He smiled, and it made her nervous. "Spoken like a true bender, Miss Katara."

If he was going to be sickly pleasant, then she feared where this was heading; she would much prefer him to be arrogant and critical, and unpleasant, if they must be alone together.

"There's nothing you cannot do, Katara."  
"Don't be crazy."  
But he seemed determined not to argue. He smiled again and moved towards her, pressing his broad chest to her back and lifting her arms with his own to position the bow.

"What do you think you're doing?" Katara choked, struggling to free herself.

"Relax," he whispered, and with a smooth motion, pulled her wrist back with his hand and released the arrow. It landed with a satisfying thunk across the field and she could feel him grinning into her neck.

She quickly slipped under his arms and pressed her back against the railing, her guard raised.

Despite her tense demeanor, Jet continued to make idle conversation.

"What do you think will happen in the Fire Lord's court tomorrow?" he asked.  
"Truly, I don't know," Katara said. "Though, I do know that Prince Zuko will be returning."

Jet scowled, "That angry," he struggled to find the word, "jerk, disgrace of a prince. I don't like that you're always near him, his temper is atrocious, and you could get hurt again!"

It was Katara's turn to raise her voice. "Jet, you don't even know him! He's kind, truly he is, but sometimes-"

He sighed. "I'm Sorry Katara. Sometimes, I wish you would let me protect you." Jet watched her quietly, and a small panic began to stir in her chest.

"You can't protect me from everything." She turned away. "Let's go back to the castle."  
"Marry me Katara," he strode forward and placed one hand on her shoulder, the other tilted her chin so that she would look directly into his eyes.

"Our marriage will protect you. I know I'm not of royal blood, but Katara, I love you. We'll leave the Fire Nation and head back home where you'll be safe."

Well then, he had said it, just as Zuko predicted, and it hit her like one of Zuko's punches to the stomach. She didn't know where to look; she couldn't stand still. She put her hand to her head, then to the railing behind her, and willed herself to think.

"Our marriage wouldn't protect me," she said. "Nobody would pardon me simply because I married."

"But they would be more lenient," Jet said. "Our engagement would put anybody in a dangerous position, since you will inherit half your father's kingdom after marriage."

And she would be married, and to Jet. She would be his wife, the lady of his house. She'd be charged with entertaining his wretched guests. Expected to hire and dismiss his servants, and such nonsense. Expected to bear him children, and stay home to love them. She would go to his bed at night, Jet's bed, and lie with a man who considered a scratch on her face an affront to his dignity. A man who thought himself her protector-her protector when she could outduel him if she were blindfolded on a moonless night.

She breathed it away, breathed away the fury. She could consider him a friend, and he was certainly loyal to her father's council. She wouldn't speak what she thought. She would speak what Lu Ten had told her to speak.

"Jet," she said. "Surely you've heard I don't intend to marry."  
"But would you refuse a suitable proposal? And you must admit, it seems a solution to your problem with many of the foreign threats intent on capturing you. Your uncle has already been victimized; I'm only trying to save you and your family from further harm."

He stood before her, his face even, his eyes warm. So confident. He didn't imagine she could refuse him.

"Jet. You need a wife who will give you children and a warm home. Both are tasks I will not bear."

"You're not an unnatural woman, Katara. You can fight better than any man, but trust me. You'll want children, I'm sure of it."

She was so infuriated, so irked by his immediate answer, but like a proper lady, she showed no emotion.

"I can't marry you, Jet. It's nothing to do with you. It's my fault. I won't marry, not anyone, and I won't bear any man children."

He stared at her then, and his face changed. She knew that look on Jet's face, the sarcastic curl of his lip and the dark glint in his eye. He was beginning to hear her.  
"I don't think you've considered what you're saying, Katara. Do you expect ever to receive a more attractive proposal? You're well into marriageable age in the Watertribes, what could possibly hold you back?"  
"It's nothing to do with you, Jet. It's only to do with me."  
"Do you imagine there are others who would even spark an interest in a woman who isn't skilled in cooking, or weaving, but instead brutish fighting, a lady killer?"

"Jet-" Katara felt her voice growing weak.

"I know!" Jet yelled, his face and arms thrashing vehemently inches before her, "You're hoping that filthy Fire Nation Prince will ask for your hand." He pointed at her, his face mocking. "You prefer him, because he's a prince and I'm only an orphaned merchant's child taken in by your family."

Katara threw her arms in the air. "Jet, of all the insane-"  
"He won't ask you," Jet said, "and if he did, you'd be a fool to accept. He's a dirty son of-"  
"Jet! I assure you-"  
"Nor is he honorable," Jet said. "A man who fights you as he does is no better than an opportunist taking advantage of you!"

She stood. Disbelieving. Her chest tight, and her mind screaming. She was scared of the pieces clicking into place. She was scared of what she saw, as Jet blurted every reason that caused him anger. But Katara saw what was about to happen next, and she couldn't help but run away.

o

o

o

**Author's Note: I finished this chapter late last night, and even after reading through it a few times I'm not sure it's completely mistake-free. So, forgive the writer! I know I promised a quick update, but things got in the way. Doesn't it seem that there are always things that pop up that take up all your time? Anyways, I'm truly sorry…so don't kill me!!!!**

**GAHH!! Jet proposed! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!? I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT!!! (Words just came to me and my fingers were flying on the keyboard…the origin of the idea eludes me still to this very moment.)**

**Don't I make it impossible not to hate Jet? He's such a snob in this FF.**

**Also, Poor Zuko, he's struggling internally…not like that's anything new. HAHA I'm so mean. But I love Zuko.**

**SUSPENSE!! DUN DUN DUN IN THE END!!! MUCHO DRAMA IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! I would've continued…but the chapter got kinda long.**

OH AND BEFORE I FORGET! HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!  


**Warmest Regards,**

**Alicia aka SQUISHPIE**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Zuko rolled over to his side and exhaled. He pulled the blanket tighter of his shoulders, but despite the late hour, sleep eluded him. Thoughts of Katara filled his mind, though he didn't know why he would be thinking of her. He concluded that he admired her. She was indeed a skilled fighter, even more so since she was a woman. But somehow, there was so much more. She always seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, sometimes even before he himself realized it. He had always thought her perceptive, another quality he admired. She was quick, but only able to dodge and evade his blasts because it seemed as if she sensed his every move. Sensed his every thought…his every move. Suddenly, his ears plugged up and anger exploded in his chest. The numbness spread from his fingertips at his abrupt realization. _Of course._ How could he have been so stupid not to realize? Katara was a mind reader, a skill possessed by a handful of Waterbenders. The feeling nagged him. He had trusted her. Even still, she did not reveal to him the true bent nature of her bending. And that was the same as if she'd lied.

o

o

o

He burst into Lu Ten's workrooms, and his cousin looked up from his work, startled.

"Where is she?" he demanded, and then he stopped in his tracks because she was there, right there, sitting at the edge of Lu Ten's table, her jaw slightly discolored and her sleeves rolled up.

"There's something I must tell you, Zuko," she said.

"You're a mind reader," he said. "You're a mind reader and you lied to me."

Lu Ten swore shortly and jumped up. He ran to the door behind him and pushed it closed.

Katara's face flushed, but she held his gaze. "I'm not a mind reader," she said.

"And I'm not a fool!" Zuko yelled, "So stop lying to me. Tell me, what have you learned" What thoughts of mine have you stolen?"  
"I'm not quite that talented," Katara was composed, as always. "I can only sense people."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"  
"Zuko. Listen. Every human is filled with water. Being a waterbender, I can feel the push and pull of the water inside you. When in battle, I can feel the threads of water shifting, like waves in an ocean. Your physical energy… It's only" she swallowed. "It is only when you're concentrated on me that I also sense a weak strand of thoughts."  
"Oh? And that's not mind reading?" He erupted, screaming it so loudly that she flinched, but still held his gaze.

"I can't do what you think I can do." She turned away.

"You lied to me Katara," The hurt was evident in his voice, "I trusted you." The last phrase came in a small whisper.

Lu Ten's soft voice broke through his distress. "Let herexplain, Zuko."  
He turned to Lu Ten, incredulous that he should know the truth and still take Katara's side. He whirled back on Katara, who still dared to hold his eyes, as if she'd done nothing wrong, nothing completely and absolutely wrong.

"Please, Zuko," Katara said. "Please hear me, I can't sit and listen in to whatever thoughts I want. I don't know what you think of Lu Ten, or what Lu Ten thinks of Jet, or whether Orin enjoys his dinner. You can be behind the door running in circles and thinking about how much you hate the Fire Lord, and all I'll know is that you're running in circles-until your thoughts turn to me. Only then do I know what you're feeling. It takes two concentrated wills for me to grasp the faintest threads of your thoughts."  
"Then why where you so shocked when Jet proposed?"  
"Where did you learn about tha-"

"News travels fast, Katara."  
The waterbender let out the long breathe she'd been holding. "In honesty, I had no desire to know what Jet thinks of me. I push away his thoughts, and his mind is so clouded with hatred, jealousy, and envy, it's like a muddied pool."

This is what it felt like to be betrayed by a friend. No, by a traitor pretending to be a friend. Such a wonderful friend she'd seemed, so sympathetic, so understanding-and no wonder, if she'd always known his emotions. The perfect pretense of friendship.

"No," she said. "No. I have lied, Zuko, but my friendship for you is real. I've always been your true friend."  
Even now she was sensing his every thought.

"Stop it," he spat out. "Stop it, you traitor, imposter, you…"

He couldn't find words strong enough. But her eyes dropped from his now, miserably and he saw that she felt truly guilty.

"I knew…" she said, "that you'd realize soon…"

He slumped against the table, his face contorted with unhappiness.

Her voice however, was toneless when she spoke.

"Only two people have known the true extent of my waterbending. My uncle and my mother. And now, Lu Ten and you. My father does not know, nor my brother orhis wife. My mother and uncle forbade me to tell anyone, the moment I revealed it to them as a child."  
Well. He would take care of that problem. For Orin was right, Katara was not to be trusted.

"People must know of this," Zuko demaded.

Katara, her hands clenched tightly together, spoke. "Please, you can't tell. You'll take away any freedom I have, it'll ruin my life."  
He looked at her then, but her image blurred behind tears that swelled into his eyes. He must leave. He must leave this room, because he wanted to hit her, as he had sworn he would never do. He wanted to cause her pain for taking a place in his heart that he wouldn't have given her if he'd known the truth.

"You lied to me," he said.

And he turned and walked out of the room.

o

o

o

"What has upset you, my dear?" Lin strode in with a basket of laundry tucked neatly beneath her arm.

Katara didn't reply.

"Trouble in your father's court? Or perhaps, trouble with Prince Zuko?" She let the last phrase linger.

Katara almost let out a choking sob. But, years of etiquette held her back from bursting into tears.

Lin seemed to take notice. The motherly figure seemed to be spending much time with Katara during her visit in the Fire Nation. She rather enjoyed the young woman's company, but this afternoon, Miss Katara was clearly depressed.  
"Well, if you're having trouble with one of your _young men_, whoever it may be, we'll just make you especially beautiful for the evening."

Katara couldn't help but laugh at Lin's logic, but the laugh caught in her throat. She would leave the court after this night. For she didn't want to be here any longer, the hurt look in Zuko's eyes would break her. She didn't want to be here anymore, with Jet's sarcastic, hurt pride, and, most of all, Zuko's mistrust.

o

o

o

Later, when Zuko was dressed and a maidservant was removing the imaginary lint from his red shirt, there was a knock at his entrance. Zuko's heart flew to his throat, for it was surely a messenger summoning him to his father, or even worse, it would be Katara on the other side. It would be Katara coming to lamely apologize and read his mind and hurt him with her explanations and excuses. But when the servant opened the doors, it was Lu Ten who walked in.

Zuko raised an eyebrow, "You're not the one I expected." He pressed his fingers to his temples and dismissed the maids. "I must speak with my cousin alone."

The palace hands left and Lu Ten seated himself on a bench on the far side of his room. He pulled his legs up to his chest, as he had done when he was a child and stared quietly at Zuko. This reminded the prince of their younger years, as they would both sit, talking and laughing. He didn't talk now, nor did he laugh. He only sat, all arms and legs, and looked at him near the dresser. His face kind and dear, and open with worry.

"The color red suits you, Zuzu," a name of endearment he used when they were still children.

"What have you really come for, Lu Ten?"  
The Prince's usually lighthearted cousin sighed, "Prince Zuko, your problems have multiplied since you last left the court. I spoke to Orin." He continued. "This problem with you and Ka-"  
"I can't stand hearing her name." Zuko cut him off.

Lu Ten reworded his sentences, "Well…it's quite serious, isn't it? What will you do?"  
"Honestly, cousin, I don't know."  
"Why do you keep saying that? I suppose you think I should have banished or tortured the girl for doing no wrong?"

"Of course not. You were right to be angry…but-"

"And my father! I won't let him control me anymore. I won't be his animal."  
The two conflicting subjects collided into one chaotic situation.

"Zuko." He shifted, and sighed. He looked at the prince closely. "I can see you've made up your mind now. And you know I'll do anything in my power to stop your father's tyranny. I'm on your side in anything to do with the Fire Lord, always. It's just…it's just that…"

He knew. It was just that Fire Lord Ozai paid little heed to his medicine-making nephew.

Zuko was caught in his own train of thought.

"Oh, and you know that Jet proposed to Katara?" Zuko practically spit each word with anger.

"Yes…I know."  
"Well, how did she reply?" Zuko demanded."

"She was honest with him, and sent him away."  
He felt like laughing, though there was no humor in it. "Well, she was telling one truth in all the lies she's spun."

Lu Ten looked away, as if in disagreement, however he did not speak up.

"You've had a few rough days, with your father and Jet and Ka-" He caught himself, "the watertribe girl."

"It started badly, and progressed to worse." The prince said, "And ended with my coming to the realization that Katara is a liar."

Lu Ten considered his cousin for a moment, then started to speak, but decided against it.

The fire was crackling in the furnace beside them. Zuko's damp hair was now dry, and layered slightly over his eyes.

"Her mother knew she'd only be used as a tool, if the truth came out. Imagine the uses of a child who can sense reactions. Imagine, her father would imprison her, just as you have been. We can't blame her for not telling us sooner," Lu Ten said. "To be honest, I'm touched that she told us at all. She told me just after you left."

"I don't crave the company of a mind reader."  
"In Agni's name how could you be so stubborn? She's leaving tomorrow Zuko!"

Zuko started at him, suddenly concerned. "What do you mean she's leaving?"

"She's leaving the court," Lu Ten said, "for good. She's going to the border territories, then possibly, to the Air Nomads. She hasn't worked out the details."  
Zuko felt a pang of sadness hit him. He seemed unable to control the feeling of loss that flowed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Noticing that his cousin needed to be alone, Lu Ten stood up. "I'll keep in touch with her…just in case you want to know how she's doing."

o

o

o

She hovered just inside the doorway; she seemed unsure whether to come closer or to keep her distance. He didn't know what he wanted, either; he only thought to keep calm and not think of her. She stood, crossed into his dining room, went to the window, and looked out to the fading sunlight. The courtyard was empty. He could feel her moving to the entrance behind him.  
"Forgive me, Zuko." She said. "I beg you to forgive me. I've made many enemies, but I do not wish for you to be amongst them. Zuko I-" She stopped herself.

Well, that was easily answered. Still, he did not forgive her.

The trees in the grounds below were still green, but soon they would turn orange, and fall.

He did not forgive her.

He heard her move a step closer. "Zuko, I know that you're angry, and furious, and that I've hurt you, and that you don't forgive me. Or trust me." The strands of your thoughts only confirm what I see with my own eyes.

He sighed sharply and pressed his forehead against the windowpane.

Katara pressed on. "I've been careless around you. It's because I've wanted you to know."  
That did little to reassure him, for it was so easy for her to lie.

"I couldn't tell you, directly, Zuko, not possibly." She placed a hand on his shoulders.

"Stop it! Stop that! Stop responding to my thoughts!"

"I won't hide it from you, Zuko! I won't hide it anymore! It's who I am, and I'd be a fool to oppress my bending."

In the reflection of the window, he could see her standing rigidly, her fingers playing with the many rings on her finger.

"Please, Zuko, let me explain. It's not as bad as it seems."  
"It's easy for you to say," he replied. "You're not the one whose thoughts are being intruded upon."

"Almost all of your thoughts are your own," she said. "My bending only shows me the faintest strands of how you stand in relation to _me._ Whether or not you are nearby physically, and what you're doing; and any thoughts or feelings or instincts you have regarding me. I-I suppose it's meant to be a kind of self-protection," she finished lamely.

"Anyway, it's why I can fight you nearly on par. I can sense the movement, the flow of chi in your body. And more to the point, I feel the energy of your intentions toward me. I now every move you intend to make against me, before you make it."

He almost couldn't breathe at that extraordinary statement. He wondered vaguely if this was how death creeping upon a person felt. The pain, numbness, and despite it all, the void and emptiness of betrayal inside.

"I know when someone wants to hurt me, and how," she said. "I know if a person looks on me kindly, or if he trusts me. I know if a person doesn't like me. I know when someone intends to deceive me."  
"As you've deceived me," Zuko said, "about being able to reach into minds."  
She continued doggedly. "Yes, that's true. But all you've told me about your struggles with your father, your inner thoughts and dreamed adventures, I heard from your mouth, not your mind. Do you remember when I met you near the dungeons the first time that night? I couldn't look into your mind and know what your intentions that night were. All I knew for sure was that you didn't know who I was, and you didn't know whether to trust me, but you didn't want to kill me, because I was Watertribe, and possibly because of something to do with another Watertribe member, though I couldn't be certain who, or how he factored into it."

"It must be convenient," he said bitterly, "to know if another person is trustworthy. We wouldn't be here right now if I had that capability."  
"I'm sorry," she said. "I can't tell you how sorry. I've hated not telling you. It's bound me every day since we became friends."  
"We are not friends." He growled it into the glass of the window, still not comfortable to turn around and face her.

"If you're not my friend, then I have no friends." Katara whispered.  
"Friends don't lie," he said.  
"Friends try to understand," she said. "How much have I risked telling you and Lu Ten the truth? What would you have done, Zuko, if you were in my position? Hidden yourself in a hole and dared to burden no one with your grievous friendship? Every friendship comes with a burdening secret."

She stopped for a moment, her voice rough and choked, and Zuko fought against his distress, fought to keep it from touching him. He found that he was gripping the window frame very hard.

"You would have me friendless, Zuko," she finished quietly. "You would have my bending control every aspect of my life and shut me off from every happiness."  
He didn't want to hear those words, words that called to his sympathy, to his understanding.

"I didn't ask for this," she could feel the tears blurring her vision. "I would give up my bending, my birthright, and my kingdom, for you to accept me."

Rage then, rage again, because he couldn't even feel sympathy without her knowing it. This was madness. He could not comprehend the madness of this situation. He took a breath and tried to consider it, piece by piece.

"Your fighting," he said, his eyes on the darkening courtyard. "You expect me to believe the only source of your fighting comes from sensing thought? Surely, you are too a skilled bender."

"I'm an exceptional fighter considering the women I my tribe. When my father realized I was a bender, I was raised as any boy soldier would be. It's an enormous advantage in combat however, to anticipate every move your opponent makes against you. Combine with that my immediate sense of your body's flow of energy, and you can understand why no one has ever beaten me, save you... Zuko think about it. You're five times the fighter I am. When we fight, you're holding back-don't tell me you aren't, because I know you are-and I'm not holding back, not a bit. And you can do anything you want to me, and I can't hurt you-"

"It hurts when you strike me-"

"It only huts you for an instant, and besides, if I hit you, it's only because you've left a careless opening. You're too busy conjuring heated columns of flames to care that I'm striking you with shards of ice. How long do you think it would take you to kill me, if you decided to?"  
She was right. If his purpose was to kill her, it certainly wouldn't take him very long.

"Why didn't you know I would strike you," he said, "In front of the dungeons, so long ago?"  
"I did know," she said, "but only in the last instant, and I didn't react quickly enough. Until that first strike, I didn't realize your speed."  
The mortar was cracking in the frame of the window. He pulled out a small chunk and rolled it between his fingers.

"Do you ever make mistakes?"

She breathed, it almost sounded like a laugh. "My interpretation of movement and emotions is not always exact, but as long as I'm not in a large crowd of people, my sense of the physical body is pretty reliable. I know where people are and what they're doing. But some people, their emotions are so conflicted…human emotion can be very complicated, and difficult to understand."  
It hadn't even occurred to him that thoughts might be difficult to understand.

"When I was a child, these enormous waves of energy and feeling were always crashing into me. It felt as if I was drowning in them. For one thing, it's taken me a long time to learn to distinguish between thoughts that matter and thoughts that don't. I've gotten much better at that, but sometimes ribbons of thought elude my categorization."

It seemed ridiculous to him, that her own bending might be overwhelming.

"It's hard to handle it sometimes," she said.

He sighed. There were things about this he could understand, though he didn't want to.

"How close do you have to be to someone, physically, for you to be able to sense them?"

"It differs. And it changes over time."

"What do you mean?"  
"If it's someone I know very well," she said, "my range is broad. For strangers, I need to be closer. I know when you ride in and out of the palace, and when you burst into the courtyard, and…" she hesitated. "And I felt your anger strong and clear as you raged into Lu Ten's rooms. My range for you…is broader than most."

It was darker outside now than it was in his dining room. He saw her, suddenly, in the reflection of the window. She was leaning against the far side of the wall. Her shoulders slumped, and every feature about her was unhappy. He could feel the guilt and anger mix into confusion again. He forced himself to speak.

"Do you sense the presence of animals and plants?"  
"I'm leaving," she said, "tomorrow."  
"Do you know when an animal is near?"  
"Will you turn around?" he could hear the tears in her voice, "so I can see you while you speak?"  
"Can you read my mind more easily when I'm facing you?"  
Her voice was soft, "No, Zuko, I'd just like to see you. That's all."  
She was sorry about all of this, sorry for her unnatural ability to sense emotion, and sorry that she could not gain back the trust of a man she held close.

He turned to face her.

"Lately, I've been able to sense the growing presence of animals and plants or landscapes. Sometimes it feels fuzzy when it isn't human. If something moves, I might sense it. It's erratic. But everything in nature is filled with water, and I feel it pulling me towards it."

Zuko watched her face.

"I'm going to the border territories," she said.

Zuko folded his arms across his stomach and said nothing.

Katara continued talking. He heard slurred phrases… Air nomads…her uncle. But he was tired, and overwhelmed by so many things in the present to focus on the details of her uncle's captors.

"Zuko," she said. "I need you to listen to me."  
He blinked and worked his minds back to the words she spoke.

"Avatar Aang is a kind man," she said. "He would have no reason to be involved in this. However, I would feel more comfortably if I saw him for myself. And my aunt, Lady Kyani, she's so strong. I doubt she would behave as you've told me…locking herself and her child away from her husband. I swear to you, if you knew her…"

She stopped, her brow furrowed. She kicked the floor." I've a feeling that something isn't right and-"

"Katara," Zuko cut in, stopping her midsentence.

"Hm?"  
"You talk too much." He stepped over, and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. Their faces just inches apart.

o

o

o

**Author's Note: THREE CHEERS FOR ME! I finally finished this chapter! I have to say, this was by far the most difficult chapter! And also, congrats to one of my readers who figured out which amazing fantasy novel (Graceling) I dumped into Avatar-land! Lots of this is confusing, so please ask me if you need some clearing up _ I tried my best! Did I go overboard with the Katara "reading minds thing?" I feel kinda stupid for including it…but it's crucial to the drama of this story! Little bits of fluff in the end xDD!**

**P.S. in one of the Ba Sing Se episodes, doesn't Katara kind of "reach into" Jet's mind? After he was brainwashed by the Dai Li? I guess this is kind of a bigger stretch for the whole "mind reading" bit. **

**Warmest Regards,**

**Alicia!**

**Disclaimer: Avatar belongs to Nickelodeon, and this story line belongs to Kristin Cashore.  
**


	9. Dousing the Flame

**Chapter 9- Dousing the flame**

That was it, then. She was going to roam the borders, to get to the bottom of it. And it was a good thing she was going, because he didn't want thoughts of her clouding his head or better judgment.

But, at the same time he did not want her to go. Surely she must know how he felt, for her ability to untangle his every thought must have told her so. This was absurd, it was impossible. Being with her was impossible.

But still he didn't want her to go.

"I hoped you would come with me," she said, and he stared at her, openmouthed. "We'd make a good team. I don't even know where I'm going, for sure. But I hoped you would consider coming…that is…if you still trust me."

"Can you not tell?" Zuko questioned.

"I can't know your feelings," she said, "if you don't know them yourself."

Katara looked to the door suddenly; and there was a sharp knock, and a messenger burst in without waiting for the prince's response. At the sight of his pale, tight face, it all came flooding back to him.

His father. Fire Lord Ozai wanted an audience with him. To banish him, perhaps? Sentence him to exile? Worse yet, an Agni Kai. Before this confusion with Katara, he had disobeyed his father's orders.

"The Fire Lord orders you to come before him at once, Prince Zuko," the messenger said. "Forgive me, my lord, but he says that if you refuse to cooperate, an entire guard will be sent to escort you."

"Very well," Zuko said. "Tell my father I'll go to him immediately."

Zuko scowled after him. "His entire guard. What does he think they could do to me? I should've told the messenger to send them, just for the amusement of it."

He looked around the room. "I wonder if I should take a knife."

Katara watched him with narrowed eyes. "You're bending is more than sufficient and…what have you done? What's this about?"

"I've disobeyed him. He sent me to torture an innocent lord, and I decided I wouldn't. Do you think I should take a knife?" He walked across to his weapons room.

She followed him. "To do what? What do you think will happen at this meeting?"

"I don't know, I don't know." His eyebrows knitted together revealing his confused state. "Katara, if he angers me, I fear I'll want to kill him. And what if he threatens me and gives me no choice?"

He slumped into a chair and dropped his head down on the Council table. How could he face his father now, of all times, when there was a whirlwind in his head? He would lose his temper just at the sound of his voice.

Katara slid into the chair next to him and sat sideways, facing him.

"Zuko," she said. "Listen to me. You're the most powerful person I've ever met. You can do whatever you want, whatever in the world you want. No one can make you do anything and your father can't touch you. The instant you walk into his presence, you have all the power. If you wish not to hurt him, Zuko, then you have only to choose not to."

"But what will I do?"

"You'll figure it out," Katara said. "You only have to go in knowing what you won't do. You won't hurt him; you won't let him hurt you. You'll figure the rest out as you go along."

He sighed into the table. He didn't think much of her plan.

"It's the only possible plan, Zuko. You have the power to do whatever you want."

He sat up and turned to her. "You keep saying that, but it's not true," he said. "I don't have the power to stop you from sensing my thoughts or movements."

She raised her eyebrows. "You could kill me."

"I couldn't," the prince said, his eyes softening. "Besides, you would know if I meant to kill you, and you'd escape me. You'd stay far away from me, always."

The blue-eyed waterbender smiled. "Ah, but I wouldn't"

"You would," he said, "if I wanted to kill you. Trust goes only so far as the intent to murder."

She was silent for a moment, and the room filled with an uneasiness that melted into her comforting voice.

"I wouldn't run away." 

Zuko said nothing as she continued. "I'd let you kill me. If that's what you truly wanted…Zuko I-"

On that sensless note he pinched the bridge of his nose and stood just quickly enough to cut her off.

"Enough. Enough of this." He took a deep breath and marched out to answer his father's call.

o

o

o

His first thought when he entered the throne room was to wish he'd brought a knife after all. His second thought was to wish that Katara was with him. As he considered the weight of the situation, it seemed more and more like a better idea.

A long, red carpet led from the doors to Ozai's throne. His father sat grandly at the top of the dais, flames casting shadows on the pillars. Red robes, and bright eyes. His face hard, his smile frozen.

The king's guard lined the carpet on either side, three men deep, swords drawn and held at their sides. The Fire Lord usually kept a tenth of this many guards in his throne room. Impressive; it was an impressive battalion his father had arranged in preparation for his appearance.

But, the newfound confidence he found in himself only confirmed that these men were too slow and clumsy at best. A subtle grin graced his face as he realized, maybe Katara had taught him a trick or too in their practices.

If a fight erupted in this room, it would be a massacre.

Zuko stepped forward, his eyes and ears finely tuned to the guards behind. Ozai's fighters were decent, but none were benders.

At about halfway to the throne, his father called out. "Stop there. I've no wish for your closer company, Zuko."

His name sounded like steam hissing down the carpet when the Fire Lord spoke it. "You return to my court today with no woman. No dowry. My two men injured by your hand. What do you have to say for yourself?"

When a battalion of soldiers didn't trouble him, why should one voice rile him so? He forced himself to hold his father's contemptuous eyes.

"I didn't agree with your order, Fire Lord."

"Can I possibly have heard you correctly? You didn't agree with my order?" 

"No…father."

Ozai leaned back, his smile twisted tighter now. "Charming," he said. "Charming, truly. Tell me, Zuko. What precisely, possessed you with the notion that you are in a position to consider the Fire Lord's orders. To think about them? To form opinions regarding them? Have I ever asked you to share your thoughts on anything?"

"No, Fire Lord."

"Have I ever encouraged you to bestow upon us your sage advice?"

"No, Fire Lord."

"Do you imagine it is your wit or your stunning intellect that warrants your position in this court?"

And here his father was clever. This was how he'd kept his son caged like an animal for so long. He knew the words to make him feel stupid and brutish and turn his son into the equivalence of a dog.

Well, and if he must be a dog, at least he would no longer be in his father's cage. He would be his own, and he would possess his own viciousness, and he would do what he liked with it. Even now, the firebending prince felt his arms and legs beginning to thrill with readiness. He narrowed his eyes at the Fire Lord. He could not keep the challenge out of his voice.

"And what exactly is the purpose of all these guards, _father_?"

Ozai smiled blandly, "These men will attack if you make the slightest move. At the end of this interview they'll accompany you to my dungeons… or would you prefer an Agni Kai? Should I summon that little azure-eyed princes of yours? What was her name?"

Zuko could feel the flames flowing through his veins, but he kept his mouth clenched shut as his father continued.

"She's no firebender, so I suppose it wouldn't be an Agni Kai, nonetheless the fight will be to the death. How does that sound, Zuko?"

"Don't you dare speak of her!" he could feel his palms growing hot with rage.

"Aha, so it seems you two have gotten closer than I imagined. Regardless, the end of this conversation will see you either in my dungeons, or dead."

Zuko saw and heard everything in the room. The Fire Lord and his guards, the metal swords clinking ever so lightly.

He breathed around a thing he recognized now as hatred. He hated this king His body was alive with it.

"Fire Lord," he said. "Let me explain what will happen the instant one of your men makes a move toward me. Let's say, for instance, one of your men swings a sword at me. You've not come to many of my practices, Father. You haven't seen me dodge swings, but your swordsmen have. If one of your men takes a swing, I'll drop to the floor. The guard will then have come in contact with the neck of another soldier who has simultaneously charged me from behind. Before anyone in the room has time to realize what's happened, two swords will be in my possession and a fight will break out with the guards. But, only seven o r eight of them can surround me at once, and seven or eight are nothing to me. As I kill each of your guards, who of course will have no sighting of me once the brawl with the guards has broken out, I'll get out of the room alive. However, the rest of you will be dead. Of course, this is only what will happen if I wait for one of your men to make a move. I could move first, I could attack a guard, steal his spear, and hurl it into your heart this instant."

Ozai's mouth was fixed into a sneer, but under this he began to tremble. A threat of death, given and received; and Zuko felt it ringing in his fingertips. And he saw that he could do it now, he could kill him right now. His fingers itched to set the room ablaze.

_And then what?_ A small voice inside himself whispered; and Zuko caught his breath, stricken. And then what? A bloodbath, one he'd be lucky to escape. Lu Ten would become Fire Lord, and his first task of justification would be to kill the murderer of the previous Fire Lord. And that charge, would break his heart, and make him an enemy, and a stranger.

And Katara would hear of it as she was leaving. She'd hear that he'd lost control and killed his father, that he'd cause his own exile and broken Lu Ten's spirit. She would return to the Water Tribe and watch the tide pull in and out of the shores; and she'd shake her head and wonder why'd she'd allow this to happen, why she convinced him of all the power he held.

_Where is your faith in your power?_ The voice whispered now.

_You don't have to shed blood._ And Zuko saw what he was doing, here in this throne room. He saw Ozai, pale, clenching his fists together so tightly and holding his breath.

Tears came to his eyes. Mercy was more frightening than murder, because it was harder, and Ozai didn't deserve it.

_Katara thinks you have the courage,_ the voice said fiercely. _Pretend that you believe she's right. Believe her, for just a moment._

Pretend. His fingers were screaming, but maybe he could pretend long enough to get out of this room.

Zuko raised burning eyes to the Fire Lord. His voice shook.

"I'm leaving the court," he said. "Don't try to stop me. I promise you'll regret it if you do. Forget about me once I'm gone, for I won't consent to live like a tracked animal. I'm no longer yours to command."

Ozai's eyes were wide, and his mouth open. The self-banished prince turned and rushed down the long carpet, his ears tuned to the silence. As he passed through his father's great doors he felt the weight of hundreds of astonished eyes on his back; and none of them knew he'd only been a breath away from changing his mind.

o

o

o

They rose well before daylight. Lu Ten saw them off, the medicine maker bleary-eyed and yawning endlessly. The prince was shy of his riding partner; and he felt strange about Lu Ten, so strange that he wished he wasn't there. If Lu Ten hadn't been there watching him go, then perhaps he'd have been able to pretend he wasn't leaving him. With Lu Ten there, there was no pretense, and he was unable to do anything about the strange painful feeling that rose to his throat every time he looked at his cousin, his only family.

They were impossible, his cousin and riding partner. For if one did not evoke pain, the other did. What Lin would make of it he could only imagine; and he hadn't liked saying good-bye to Lin either. No, there was little to be happy about this morning, except that he was not, at least, leaving Katara; and she was probably standing there beside her ostrich-horse registering his every feeling on the matter. He gave her a withering look for good measure, and she raised an eyebrow, smiled, and yawned.

Well. And she'd better not ride as if she were half asleep, or he'd leave her in the dust. He was not in the mood to dawdle.

"You have the maps? Food for the day? You have money?" Lu Ten fussed.

Katara smiled up at him then, for he sounded, as she imagined like a mother would sound if her child were leaving forever.

"Zuko's a prince of the Fire Nation," she said. "Why do you think he rides such a big ostrich-horse, if not to carry his bags of gold?" The three broke out into a quiet laughter and for a moment, Zuko turned slightly, so that the first rays or sunlight caught his eyes.

"Take this," Lu Ten placed the small pouch carefully in Zuko's possession. "It's a bag of medicines, in case you should ever need them. I've marked them so you'll know what each is for."

Katara came forward then and held her hand out to Lu Ten. "Thank you for all you've done; I am forever, in your debt. I trust that my uncle is in good hands."

"He'll be safe with us, the prince's cousin assured."

Lu Ten mused back and forth between their ostrich-horses, checking saddles, testing the holds of their stirrups

"I suppose I don't need to worry about your safety," he said, "with the two of you riding together."

"We'll be safe." Zuko assured him, though his focus was on the road ahead.

After the transfer of a few more bags, a couple of blankets, and some dried fruit, Lu Ten tried to be as subtle as possible when he pulled Katara behind a wall.

"You don't seem at all surprised," Lu Ten started, "but then again, I suppose you knew my intentions."

Katara merely nodded, "You seemed…stressed. Is there something you need of me?"

"Well, yes and no. It's more of a favor." He said.

Katara matched his serious expression as he continued.

"Zuko…he acts impulsively. He is powerful, but raw, there's nothing to hold him back."

The waterbender, now looking at the floor, was silent.

Lu Ten planted a firm grip on both her shoulders. "Katara, please, I beg of you, be his shield."

Again, he was met with silence.

"A flame cannot burn when an ocean stands before it."

"I…"

"You need not respond to me. I just want you to keep it in your heart. You must be the water that douses his rage." There was no familiar smile on his face, only deep concern.

Katara watched as Lu Ten walked away, forcing himself to smile as he bid Zuko goodbye.

"His shield…" she whispered.

She cleared her mind just in time to come back finding Zuko saddled and prepared to depart. Katara did the same and looked down at Lu Ten, who rubbed his neck, and sighed.

"Well, Cousin," he said, "I'll see you again someday."

Zuko nodded, and as he did Katara reached down and wrapped her arms around Lu Ten's neck, whispering her assurance into his ear.

"We leave now," The prince said to her. As their ostrich-horses cantered out of the stable yard, he didn't look back.

o 

o

o

The story of Zuko's hasty departure from his father's court with the Watertribe princess would spread. Any attempt to disguise themselves would be foolish; Zuko didn't even bother to change from the red attire that marked him as a member of the royal family. Their purpose would be assumed, for it was well enough agreed that the waterbending girl searched for her truth of her uncle's kidnapping. And it would now be supposed that the firebending prince assisted her. Their inquiries, the route they chose, the very dinners they ate would be the stuff of gossip.

But still, they would be safe in their deception. For no one would that Zuko and Katara searched not for her uncle but for the motive of his capturing. No one would know that they suspected the Air Nomads.

She rode well, and almost as fast as he would have liked. The trees of the southern forest flew past. The pounding of hooves comforted him and numbed his sense of the distance stretching between him and the people he'd left behind.

He was glad of Katara's company. Their riding was companionable. But then when they stopped to stretch their legs and eat something, he was shy of her again, and didn't know how to act around her or what to say.

"Sit with me, Zuko."

She sat on the trunk of a great fallen tree, and he glared at her from around his horse.

"Zuko," she said. "Prince Zuko, I won't bite. I'm not sensing your thoughts right now, except to know that I make you uncomfortable. Come and talk to me."

And so he came and sat beside her, but he didn't talk, and he didn't exactly look at her either, for he was afraid to becoming trapped in her eyes.

"Zuko," she said finally, when they had sat and chewed in silence for a number of minutes, "you'll get used to me, in time. We'll find a way to relate to each other. How can I help you with this? Should I tell you whenever I sense something? So you can come to understand it?"

It didn't sound very appealing to him. He'd prefer to pretend that everything was still and silent. But she was right. They were traveling together now, and the sooner he faced this, the better.

"Fine," he said.

"Alright then, I will. Do you have any questions for me? You have only to ask."

"I think," He said, "if you always know what I feel about you, then you should always tell me what you're feeling about me, as you feel it. Always."

He could feel Katara thinking as the air around them grew thick.

"It's not that simple, Zuko-"

He continued to half-heartedly listen when she explained how she sensed the flow of chi through his body, how the water seemed to speak to her and allow her to detect movement in the body.

"…But, if that's what you want, I will gladly comply." She finished.

"Alright, what about we start now?" he asked sharply. 

"Hmm", she played with a strand of loose hair. "Let's see. I can feel certain areas of your chi being blocked, symbolizing great tension and stress. Using my knowledge of your situation, I can assume that you're stressed about having left Lu Ten. I think you're brave to have defied your father and how you handled the situation with Lord Ran and his daughters, I doubt I could have gone through with it. I think you have more energy than anyone I've ever encountered, though I wonder if you aren't a bit hard on your ostrich-horse. I find myself wondering why you haven't yet married, and I'm pleased you've come with me. I'd like to see you defend yourself for real; fighting someone to the death, for it would be a thrilling sight. I think my family would take to you. My brothers and tribesmen, of course, would worship your strength. I think you're the most quarrelsome person I've ever met. And I really do worry about your ostrich-horse."

She stopped then, broke a piece of bread, and chewed and swallowed. He stared at her, his eyes wide."

"That's all, for now," she said.

"You can't possibly have been thinking all those things, in that moment," he said, and she let out a quiet laugh, and the sound was a comfort to him, and he fought against the clear blue color that shone in her eyes, and lost.

When she spoke, her voice was soft.

"And now I'm wondering," she said, "how it is you don't realize your eyes ensnare me, just as mine do you. I can't explain it, Zuko but you shouldn't let it embarrass you. For we're both overtaken by the same- foolishness."

A flush rose into his neck, and he was twice as embarrassed, by her eyes and by her words. But there was a relief for him too.

"Most people won't look into my eyes," he said. "Most people fear them."

She looked at his eyes then leaned in and really studied them, as she hadn't the courage to do before. "Your eyes are like lights."

He let out a dry chuckle.

"Your eyes are beautiful," she said, and he felt warm suddenly, warm in the sun that dappled through the treetops and rested on them in patches. And as they climbed back into their saddles and returned to the forest road, he didn't feel exactly comfortable with her; but he felt at least that he could look her in the face now and not fear he was surrendering his entire soul.

o

o

o

The road led them around the outskirts of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, and the road became wider yet as they traveled. Whenever Zuko and Katara were seen, they were stared at. It would soon be known in the inns and houses around the town that two benders traveled south together along the forest road.

"Are you sure you don't want to stop in Omashu and ask your questions? It would be much faster, wouldn't it?" 

"No, it's useless," Katara sighed. "The people of Omashu will be afraid, and fear mutes the tongue. We'll go to the inns."

Zuko nodded in agreement.

The forest road narrowed again and grew quieter once they left the town behind. They stopped before night fell. They set up camp some distance from the road, in a small clearing with a mossy floor, a cover of thick branches, and a trickle of water that seemed to please the ostrich-horses.

"This is all I need," Katara said. "I could live here, quite contented. What do you think, Zuko?"

"Are you hungry for meat?" I'll catch us something."

"Even better," she said. "But it'll be dark in a few minutes. I wouldn't want you to get lost, especially in the dark."

Zuko smiled then and stepped across the stream. "I'll only take me a few minutes. And it won't be dark," he said while coaxing a small flame in the heart of his palm.

"Well aren't you going to take a knife? I wouldn't want my dinner...overcooked." she laughed.

"I've a knife in my boot," he said, and then wondered, for a moment if he _could_ kill an animal without burning it to cinders. But right now, he only sought small prey and his knife would suffice. He slipped between the gnarled trees and into the damp silence of the forest. It was simply a matter of listening, remaining quiet, and making himself invisible. Years of traveling and self-sufficiency taught him this.

When he came back minutes later with a great, fat, skinned rat-rabbit, Katara had built a fire. The flames cast orange light on the ostrich-horses and surrounding campground.

"You should have waited, it would have taken me less than an instant to make a fire." He said.

"It was the least I could do," Katara said, drily, "and I see you've already skinned that rat-rabbit. I'm beginning to think I won't have much responsibility as we travel through the forest together."

"Does it bother you? You're welcome to do the hunting yourself. I'm not about to ask you to stay by the fire and mend my socks and scream if you hear strange noises."

Katara smiled at that. "You're impossible."

Zuko smirked, "You may content yourself with reading my mind, if you wish to feel superior."

"I know you're teasing me. And you should know I'm not easily humiliated. You may hunt for my food, and pound me every time we fight, and protect me when we're attacked, if you like. I'll thank you for it." The blue-eyed girl looked up at him and grinned.

"But I'd never need to protect you, if we were attacked. And I doubt you need me to do your hunting, either." Zuko concluded.

"True, but you're the better fighter, and I'm only good at catching fish. And letting you protect me doesn't humiliate me." She fed a branch to the fire. "It humbles me, but it doesn't humiliate me that I might need to rely on one stronger than myself."

He sat quietly as night closed in and watched the blood drip from the hunk of meat he held on a stick over the fire.

He listened to it sizzle as it hit the flames. He tried to separate in his mind the idea of being humbled from the idea of being humiliated, and he understood what Katara meant. He wouldn't have thought to make the distinction. She was so clear with her thoughts, while his were a constant storm that he could never make sense of and never control. He felt suddenly and sharply that Katara was smarter than he, worlds smarter, and that he was a brute in comparison. An un-thinking and unfeeling brute.

"Zuko."

He looked up. The flames danced in the blue hue of her eyes and caught the whale-boned jewelry in her ears and the rings on her fingers. Her face was all light.

"Tell me," she said. "Who decided what missions the Council carries out?"

"I have, ultimately."  
"Who has planned each mission?"  
"I have, with Lu Ten and the others."

She watched her meat cooking over the fire. She turned it, and shook it absently, so the juice fell spitting into the flames. She raised her eyes to him again.

"I don't see how you can compare us," she said, "and find yourself lacking in intelligence, or unthinking or unfeeling. I've had to spend my entire life hammering out the emotions for others, and myself, in my mind. If my mind is clearer, sometimes, than yours, it's because I've had more practice. That's the only difference between us."

She focused on her meat again. He watched her, listening.

"I wish you would remember the Council," she said. "I wish you would remember that when we met, you were rescuing my uncle, for no other reason than that you didn't believe he deserved to be held captive."

She leaned into the fire then and added another branch to the flames. They sat quietly huddled in the light, surrounded by darkness.

o

o

o

**Author's note: I really hope that you enjoy reading this :) sorry it took me so long to update! I've been on vacation and going to various summer camps. Yay for me! I was finally old enough to be a counselor instead of a camper this year xD**

**Not so much fluff in this chapter, but it's really gonna get interesting in the next two chapters xDDD SUSPENSE DUN DUN DUN!**

**I'm really sorry, I should have made myself clearer that this story is Kristin Cashore's from Graceling just submerged into the Avatar world!**

Disclaimer: Avatar belongs to Nickelodeon and the storyline and all the words etc. belong to Kristin Cashore. 

**Happy Reading!**

**-SQUISHPIE**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

In the morning, he woke before she did. Rising with the sun, it was a natural habit. He followed the dribble of water downstream, until he found a place where it formed something larger than a puddle but smaller than a pool. He bathed as well as he could. He shivered, but didn't mind the coldness of air and water; it woke him completely. He steamed himself dry and dressed. When he walked back into the clearing, she was awake, tying her bags together.

Katara disappeared down the path from which he'd come. Of course it'd probably be easier for her to find water than he. He rolled up his blanket and began to carry their belongings to the ostrich-horses.

The road grew narrower as they continued south, and the forest grew thicker and darker. Katara led, despite Zuko's protests. She insisted that when he set the pace, they always started out reasonably, but without fail, before long they were racing along at breakneck speed. She was taking it upon herself to protect Zuko's ostrich-horse from its rider.

"You say you're thinking of the ostrich-horse," Zuko said when they stopped once to water the animals at a stream that crossed the road. "But I think it's just that you can't keep up with me."

She laughed at that. "You're trying to bait me, and it won't work."

He couldn't hold back his smile. "Fine," he said. "You'll lead. And by the way, what of our practices? I wouldn't want to find myself lacking in practice, especially in these parts of the forest."

"Hopefully a week hasn't made you sluggish already." She grinned.

"Of course not," he said. "Tonight, perhaps, if it's still light when we stop. I hope the darkness doesn't bother you."

They rode quietly. Zuko's mind wandered; and he found that when it wandered to anything to do with Katara; he would check himself and proceed carefully. If he must think of her, then it would be nothing significant. She would gain nothing from his intrusions into his mind as they rode along this quiet forest path.

It occurred to him how susceptible she must be to intrusions. What if she were working out some complicated problem in her mind, concentrating very hard, and a great crowd of people approached? Or even a single person, who saw her and thought her eyes strange or admired her native jewelry?. Did she lose her concentration when other people filtered into her mind? How aggravating that would be.

And then he wondered: Could he get her attention, without saying a word? If he needed her help or wanted to stop, could he call to her in his mind? It must be possible; if a person within her range wanted to communicate with her, she must know it.

He looked at her, riding before him, her back straight and her arms steady; her ocean-blue Water Tribe clothing draped lightly over her body. He looked at the trees then, and at his ostrich-horse's ears, and at the ground before him. He cleared his mind of anything to do with Katara. The leaves on these trees are just beginning to change color. The weather is smoky, and cool.

And then, with all his might, he focused his attention on the back of Katara's head and screamed her name, inside his mind. She pulled on her reins so hard that her ostrich-horse screeched and staggered and almost sat down. His own ostrich-horse nearly collided with hers. And she looked so startled-and irritated-that he couldn't help it: He exploded with laughter.

"What in the name of La is wrong with you? Are you trying to scare me out of my wits? It is not enough to ruin your own ostrich-horse, but you must ruin mine as well?"

He knew she was angry, but he couldn't stop laughing. "Forgive me, Katara. I was only trying to get your attention."

"And I suppose it never occurs to you to start small. If I told you my roof needed rebuilding, you'd start by knocking down the house."

"Katara," he said, "don't be angry." He stifled the laugh that rose in his throat. "Truly, Katara, I had no idea it would startle you like that. I didn't think I _could_ startle you."

He coughed, and forced his face into a mask of penitence, which wouldn't have fooled even the most incompetent of people. But he hadn't meant it, truly he hadn't, and she must know that. And finally her hard mouth softened, and a flicker of a smile played across her face.

"Look at me," she said, unnecessarily, for the smile had already trapped him. "Now, say my name, in your mind, as if you wanted to get my attention-quietly. As quietly as you would if you were speaking it aloud."

He waited a moment, and then he thought it. _Katara._

She nodded. "That's all it takes."

"Well. That was easy."

"And you'll notice it caused no abuse to the animals."

"Very funny. Can we practice, while we're riding?"

And for the rest of the day he called to her on occasion, in his mind. Every time, she raised her hand, to show that she'd heard. Even when he whispered. So then he decided to stop calling to her, for it was clear that it worked, and he didn't want to badger her. She looked bat at him then and nodded and he knew that she had understood him. And he rode behind her with his eyes wide and tried to make some sense of their having had an entire conversation, of sorts, without saying a word.

o

o

o

They made camp beside a pond, surrounded by great, tall trees. As they unhooked their bags from the ostrich-horses, Zuko was sure he saw a turtle-goose through the reeds, waddling around on the opposite shore. Katara squinted.

"It does appear to be a turtle-goose," she said, "and I wouldn't mind it for dinner. And please," she smiled, "I'd like for a chance to hunt tonight."

When she used that tone of voice, it was impossible to refuse her.

So Katara set out, approaching the creature quietly. It didn't notice her. She decided to slit its throat with a shard of ice. But she snuck forward and the turtle-goose heard her and began to squawk and run for the water. She ran after the bird, and it began to spread its massive wings and took to the air. Quickly, she summoned a wave from the pond and froze it in midair. She then pulled on the water, like a rope and had the animal in her arms, flapping, biting, splashing, and kicking. But only long enough for her to snap its neck.

She turned to the shore then, and was surprised to find Zuko standing there, gaping. She stood in the pond, the water streaming from her hair and clothing, and held the huge bird up by the neck for him to see.

"I got it," she said.

He stared at her for a moment, his chest rising and falling, for he had run, apparently at the sight of the struggle. He rubbed his temples and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Katara what in Agni's name are you doing?

"What do you mean? I've caught us a turtle-goose."

"Why didn't you just use a knife? You're standing in the pond. You're soaked through and-" the sight of a long gash on her right arm cut him off."

She noticed but stated simply, "It's only water and a small cut. Perfect, since I needed to do laundry today."

"Katara-"

She didn't respond.

"Nevermind…"

He shook his head and held out a hand. "Come out of there, before you catch a cold. And give me that. I'll pluck it while you bend the water out of your clothes. Later, let me have a look at your arm."

"I never catch a cold, she said as she waded to shore."

He laughed then. "Katara, I'm sure you don't." He took the turtle-goose from her hands. "Do you still have a fight in you? We can practice while dinner is cooking."

As he watched her skillfully pull the water from her clothing, he noticed that a glowing glove of blue formed and lessened the gash on her arm.

"You-"

"Are a healer," she finished for him.

"Don't you think that's something I should know?" the anger was evident in his voice, "I thought we promised no more secrets."

"It's _not_ a secret. And besides, I can't think of any good reason why I should have told you."

Through gritted teeth he continued, "So that's why, the day after our fights, you are in ideal condition again. No one can fight me so many consecutive days without rest, but you simply healed yourself. And that time…when I struck you in the jaw. It should have been broken, but the day after, there was barely swelling."

"True. But my healing is one of the weaker aspects of my bending. It takes more energy out of me than anything else." She finished.

"You….you're impossible!"

"Are you still up for that fight tonight?"

o

o

o

Fighting her was different, now that he knew her true advantages. It was a waste of his energy, he realized, to fake a blow or even hit harder. He could have no mental advantage over her, and now that he discovered she was a healer, even his physical advantages were lessened. His only advantages would be his speed and his ferocity. And now that he knew this, it became easy enough to adjust his strategy. He didn't waste time being creative. He only pummeled her as fast and as hard as he could. She might know where he aimed next, but after a barrage of fire blasts, she simply couldn't keep up with him anymore. She was faster than usual, or maybe because it was dark and he couldn't see so well, but years of stealth still gave him the upper hand. They struggled as wave after wave counterattacked flames. She surrendered and heaved herself back up to her feet, laughing and wincing in pain.

"This is good practice for me," she said, "but I can't see what you have to gain from it. Other than the satisfaction of beating me to a pulp."

"We'll have to come up with some new drills," he said. "Something to challenge both of our elements."

"Fight me on a full moon. You'll find us more evenly matched then." The waterbender stated.

It was true. The night sky closed in around them, but the night was without a moon, or stars. Eventually, Zuko could no longer see, could only make out her vaguest outline.

Katara felt his movements grow slower. She knew he couldn't see and moved in ways that would confuse him. Her offense became stronger. And her own strikes hit him squarely.

He stopped her. "It's that exact, your sense of my hands and feet?"

"Hands and feet, fingers and toes, wherever there's water in your body, which is practically everywhere, I can sense it flowing," she said. "You're so physical, Zuko. You've so much physical energy. I sense it constantly. Even your emotions seem physical sometimes."

He squinted at her and considered. "Could you fight a person blindfolded?"

"I never have-I could never have tried it, of course, without arousing suspicion. But yes, I could, though it would be easier on flat ground. My sense of the forest floor is too inconsistent."

He stared at her, a black shape against a blacker sky. 

"Wonderful," he said. "It's wonderful. I envy you. We must fight more often at night."

She laughed. "I won't complain. It'd be nice to be on the offensive every once in a while."

They fought just a bit longer, until they both tripped over a fallen branch, and Katara landed on her back, half submerged in the pond. She came up spluttering.

"I think we've done enough barreling around in the dark," she said. "Shall we check on our dinner?"

o

o

o

The goose sizzled over the fire. Zuko poked at it with his knife, and the meat fell away from the bone.

"It's perfect," he said. "I'll cut you your portion."

He glanced up at her, and in that moment he saw her sliding out of her parka. She walked towards the fire, clothed only in her undergarments.

He forced his mind blank. Blank as a new sheet of paper, blank as a starless sky. She came to the fire and smoothed out her long, wavy hair. He stared at the cooked turtle-goose and sliced her portion carefully and thought of the blankest expression on the blankest face he could possibly imagine. It was a chilly evening; he even thought about that. The meat would be delicious, they must eat as much of it as possible, they must not waste it; he even thought about that."

"I hope you're hungry," he said to her. "I don't want this to go to waste."

"I'm starved…I hope this," she gestured to her clothing, or lack thereof, "doesn't bother you. I was able to bend the water out, but there was mud on my parka. I'll have to slowly wash it out tomorrow."

She was going to sit there in nothing but her chest binding and a cloth around her waist. Was she insane?

A mark on her arm caught his eye, and he took a breath and imagined a blank book full of page after empty page. But then a similar mark on her other arm drew his attention, and his curiosity got the better of him. He couldn't help himself; he squinted at her arms. And it was all right, this was acceptable. For there was nothing wrong with being curious about the marks that seemed to be painted on her skin.

Light, thin bands, like a ribbon wrapped around each arm, in the place where her shoulders began and ended slightly above her elbows From her collarbone, the bands patterned down the sides of her chest and down her torso and snaked down just before her ankles. It was an exotic sight, really, and he'd never seen anything quite like it. The bands, one circling each arm, were decorated with intricate designs that were native to the Water tribes. It was hard to distinguish though, in the firelight. It added to the tribal essence that hanged about her. Ocean-blue eyes, whale-boned jewelry adorning her body, and ribbon-like tattoos. She really was trying to drive him to the point of insanity.

"It's Water tribe ornamentation," she said.

"But what is it?" he asked?" "Is it paint?"

"It's a kind of dye."

"And it doesn't wash away?"

"Not for many years."

She reached into one of her bags and pulled out a blanket and wrapped it around herself. Zuko let out a breath of relief and handed her the meat.

"The the people of my tribes are fond of decoration," she said.

"Do the men wear the markings?"

"No, only the women." 

"But no one ever sees it," Zuko observed. "Water tribe clothing covers the entire body."

"Correct, it's a decoration hardly anyone sees."

He caught a smile in her eyes that flashed at him in the light.

"What? What are you grinning about?"

"It's meant to be attractive to my husband," she said.

Zuko nearly dropped his knife into the fire. "You have a husband?"

"Great seas, no!" Honestly, Zuko. Don't you think I would have mentioned him?"

She was laughing now, and he scowled. "I never know what you'll choose to mention about yourself, Katara."

"It's meant for the eyes of the husband I'm supposed to have," she said.

"Whom will you marry?"

She shrugged. "I hadn't pictured myself marrying anyone."

He moved to her side of the fire and sliced the other drumstick for himself. He went back and sat down.

"Aren't you concerned about your tribe and your land? About producing heirs?"

She shrugged again. "Not enough to attach me to a person I don't wish to be attached to. I'm content enough on my own. Besides, it is more prominently my brother's duty, not mine."

Zuko was surprised. "I had thought of you as more of a-social creature."

"When I'm in the Water Tribes I do a decent job of folding myself into normal society, when I must. But it's an act, Zuko' it's always an act. When I'm trapped in the palace or attending meetings or handling trades, there's a part of me that simply can't wait to travel again."

This he could understand perfectly. "I suppose if you married, it could only be a man trustworthy enough to know every truth about your bending."

She laughed. "Yes. The man I married would have to meet a number of rather impossible requirements." She threw the bone from her drumstick into the fire and cut another piece of meat from the turtle-goose.

She blew on the meet to cool it. "And what of you, Zuko? Your father is far too old to produce an heir, it would be your duty as the next Fire Lord."

"Next in succession would be Lu Ten. I'm sure he will have no trouble with that. Have you forgotten? I don't plan on returning to the Fire Nation as a crown prince."

She smiled then and took a drink of water. One of the ostrich-horses whickered. Some small creature slipped into the pond, the water closing around it with a gulp. She suddenly felt warm and content, and fool of good food.

"Lu Ten and I have discussed the matter before," he said. "For he's not wild about the idea of marrying some noblewoman who thinks only of being rich or being the next Fire Lady. And of course, he must marry someone; he has no choice in the matter now."

Katara tilted her head at him. "Do you dislike children?"

"I've never disliked the children I've met. I've just never wanted to be a father. I can't explain it."

She remembered Jet then, who had assured her that this would change. As if he knew her heart, as if he had the slightest understanding of her heart. She threw another bone into the fire. She felt Zuko's eyes, and looked up at him, scowling.

"Why are you glaring at me." He asked, "When for all I can tell, you're not angry with me?"

She smiled. "I was only thinking of Jet. I wonder if he would've understood if I ever sent him seabane."

Zuko looked puzzled. "What's seabane?"

"I don't know if you have another name for it in the Fire Nation. It's a small purple flower. A woman who eats its leaves will not bear a child."

o

o

o 

They wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay before the dying fire. Katara yawned lightly, but Zuko wasn't tired. A question occurred to him. But he didn't want to wake her, if she was falling asleep.

"What is it, Zuko? I'm awake."

He didn't know if he would ever get used to that.

"I was wondering whether I could wake you," he said, "By calling to you inside your mind when you're sleeping."

"I don't know," she said. "I don't sense things while I'm sleeping, but if I'm in danger or if someone approaches, I always wake. You can try it-" -she yawned again- "If you really want to."

"I'll try it another night," he said, "when you're less tired. It must be difficult to retain energy on moonless nights."

"Aren't you ever tired, Zuko?"

"I am," he said, though he couldn't bring a specific example to mind.

"Do you know the story of Avatar Aang?"

"I didn't know there was a story," Zuko admitted.

"Well…it's more of a personal experience. I'll tell it to you, and perhaps you'll feel more tired."

So, Zuko leaned back and sat close to the fire and Katara began.

"It was ages ago. I was merely thirteen. Aang-before the monks told him he was the avatar- traveled the world. That adventurous blood in him took him all the way to the North Pole, where we met for the first time. We left the North Pole together and he took me all around the world, from the islands of Kyoshi to even the remotest parts of the Fire Nation. After two years of having left home, Aang was summoned back to his people. We parted ways in Ba Sing Se and I took an Earth Kingdom trade ship back to the Water Tribe."

Zuko shifted, and refueled the dying fire with a fluid motion of his wrist. To Katara's dismay, he didn't seem tired at all, and when she stopped, he looked back at her expectantly.

"When I returned, my father was furious-"

"-That you had forsaken your duties for s long?" he interjected.

"No…the more time passes, the more this seems absurd." She took a breath and continued. "My father had thought that we… would have arranged a marriage by the time we returned."

The last phrase seemed to have caught Zuko's attention and he spoke up with a somewhat surprised tone that he tried to cover with an uncaring expression. "You were once in love with the avatar?"

Katara pointed out, "That's where you _and_ my father were mistaken. You see, Aang and I become great friends, but even being fifteen at the time, a perfect age for marriage in the Water Tribes, I wasn't ready to commit to anyone. My father wanted an alliance with the Air Nomads. By the time Aang returned with a marriage proposal, the news of him being the Avatar had already spread. I couldn't confront him, for how _could_ I refuse the Avatar?"

Zuko nodded.

"So, I ran away. The alliance would still have to be carried out, and eventually Avatar Aang was wed to my aunt, Lady Kyani of the Northern Water Tribe."

The prince scowled. "This story, these circumstances, when I mentioned the Avatar and his wife, why didn't you tell me? I had no idea your acquaintance was rooted so deeply."

Katara looked into the fire, "It wasn't the right time."

"You're a woman with a past," he smiled.

"Well, as you can imagine, I still assume Aang is more than angry with me. I broke his heart, nearly ruined an alliance, upset my father, and disappointed my people. I've more faults than you can imagine."

"That makes two of us."

"Don't misunderstand me though, Aang is a kind man and violence is not his practice." She said.

Katara propped herself on her elbow and stared at him. "Don't you find that strange?" she asked. "That nobody doubts him? But the Air Nomads never questioned it, and my advisors who've met the Avatar tell me I'm foolish to wonder. They say he's clever yet wise."

"I've never known this story," Zuko said. "I've never even met the man. But I've always had a feeling I wouldn't take to him as others have. Despite his great reputation for kindness to the small and powerless." He yawned and turned onto his side.

"Well, and I suppose we'll both learn soon enough whether I take to him, if things go as expected. Good night, Katara. We'll reach the inn tomorrow and hopefully sleep in a proper bed."

Katara closed her eyes and listened to his breath grow steady and even. There was so much she'd left behind. So much she'd tried to forget in vain. Perhaps there was a logical explanation to all of this; surely it would help her sleep more soundly. But now she must sleep. She turned her back to him and willed her mind to darkness.

o

o

o

When he thought Katara had fallen asleep, he said her name aloud once, quietly. She didn't stir. He thought her name once, quietly, like a whisper in his mind. Again, she didn't stir, and her breathing didn't change.

She was asleep.

Zuko exhaled, slowly.

He was the greatest fool in all the four nations. Why, when he fought with her almost every day, when he knew every part of her body; why when he'd pinned her to the floor and rested his weight on her stomach and could probably identify her fluid movements faster than any wife would recognize the embrace of her own husband, had the sight of her arms and legs embarrassed him? He had seen it all before, at dinners and during practices, her form was so familiar. It was like her eyes. Unless they were fighting, Katara's body had the same effect on him as her eyes.

Her breathing changed, and he froze his thoughts. He listened as her breathing settled back into a rhythm.

It was not going to be simple with Katara. Nothing with Katara was going to be simple. But In the very back of his mind, he hoped that maybe, just maybe it would all work out.

o

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**Author's Note: Ah, things are finally settling down now so I can update faster! Little bit of fluff with the tattoo part! **

**I'd have to say the story is about halfway finished. Lots of important stuff in Katara's story. Hope you enjoyed! :)**

**Disclaimer: ATLA belongs to Nickelodeon and Graceling/this storyline belongs to Kristin Cashore**

**-SQUISHPIE**

**P.S. I remember in one of the earlier reviews, someone mentioned that Katara was a healer so she should heal herself during her fights with Zuko. I hope I covered most of that in this chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The inn was a great, tall building made of solid lumber. The farther south one rode into the borderlands, the heavier and thicker the wood of the tress, and the stronger and more imposing the houses and inns. Zuko had not spent much time hanging about the borders; his father had sent him there two or three times, perhaps. But the wild forests and simple, sturdy little towns had been the central of gossip and illegal trading. Despite these factors, the walls of the inn felt comforting to the prince, dark yet warm.

They sat in a table, in a roomful of men sitting at tables- heavy, dark tables- built from the same wood as the walls. It was the time of day when men of the town and travelers alike poured into the inn's great eating room and sat down, to talk and laugh over a cup of something strong to drink. The room had recovered from the hush that afflicted it when Zuko and Katara first walked through the door. Two heads of royalty, despite their travel-worn looks, carried themselves with an air of dignity rarely found in a tavern. The men were noisy now, and jovial, and if they did peek at the pair of royalty _and_ benders no less over their cups and around their chairs, well, at least they didn't stare outright.

Katara sat back in her chair. A woman in such a harsh place was a rarity. Her eyes were calm, yet sharp. She drank from her cup of cider, and her finger traced the wet ring it left on the table. She leaned her elbow on the table and propped her head in her hand. She looked, Zuko thought, quit dangerously vulnerable in her current state. It was a good act.

Her eyes flashed at him then, and with them a glimmer of a smile. "I don't think we'll stay long at this inn," she said, her voice hushed. "There are already men in this room who've already taken an interest in us."

Katara had informed the innkeeper that they would offer money for any information about the kidnapping of her uncle. Men-particularly hired borderland men who would not hesitate to change alliances for a great deal of money. They would tell the truths they had promised not to reveal. They would also make up stories, but it didn't matter, for Katara could tell as much from a lie as she could from the truth.

Zuko drank form his cup and looked out into the sea of men. The finery of the merchants stood out among the muted browns and grays of the people of this town. Katara was the only woman in the room, save a harried serving girl, the innkeeper's daughter, who ran among the tables with a tray full of cups and pitchers. She was small in stature, dark, and pretty, and a bit younger than Katara. She caught no one's eye as she worked, and didn't smile, except to the occasional townsman old enough to be her father. She had brought Zuko and Katara their drinks silently, with only a quick, shy glance at Zuko. Most of the men in the room showed her the proper respect; but Zuko didn't much like the smiles on the faces of the merchants whose table she served at the moment.

"How old is that girl, do you think?" Zuko asked. "Do you think she's married?"

Without warning, he heard a loud slam as Katara's cup met the table. Her grip around the pitcher's handle tightened.

"K-Katara? Is something wrong? Is it something you heard?" he had never seen this kind of reaction from her before, flushed cheeks and slightly pink from the alcohol.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong. She's fifteen or sixteen, and not married." There was an edge in her voice.

"How do you know?"

She paused. "I don't. It was a guess."

"It didn't sound like a guess."

"Leave me alone."

He'd been confronted with ruder remarks, but her cold shoulder was certainly worse than an arctic wind. Was it something he said? What had gotten into her? Perhaps it was the alcohol, yes, that was it.

She drank from her cup. Her face was impassive. It hadn't been a guess, this she knew; and it bothered her why Zuko would want to know such a thing as whether the girl was married. She took a moment to nurse her irritation on behalf of every girl who'd ever admired Zuko and thought her feelings private.

"You're impossible," she said. "You're no better than those merchants. And besides, just because she has her eyes on you doesn't mean-"

"What in Agni's name are you shouting about, Katara?"

She rolled her eyes. "Spare me your confessions. If she's unmarried, I don't understand why her father sends her out to serve these men. I'm certain she's not safe among them."

"Her father stands at the bar, most of the time. No one would dare harm her."

"But he's not there always- he's not there now. And just because they don't assault her doesn't mean they respect her. Or that they would not seek her out later.

The girl circled the table of merchants, pouring cider into each cup. When one of the men reached for her arm, she recoiled. The merchants burst into laughter. The mean reached out to her then and drew back, reached out and drew back, taunting her. His friends laughed harder. And then the man at the girl's other side grabbed her wrist and held on, and there was a great whoop from the men. She tried to pull away, but the laughing man wouldn't let go. Red with shame, she looked into none of their faces, only pulled at her arm. She was too much like a confused rat-rabbit caught in a trap, and suddenly Zuko was standing. And Katara was standing, too, and she held Zuko by the arm.

For an instant Zuko appreciated the strange symmetry; except that unlike the serving girl, he could break from Katara's grip, and unlike the merchant, Katara had a good reason to hold his arm. And Zuko wouldn't break from the grip of her fingers, for he didn't need to. His rise to his feet had been enough. The room froze into stillness. The man dropped the girl's arm. He stared at Zuko with a white face and an open mouth-fear, as familiar to Zuko as the feel of his own body. The girl stared, too, and caught her breath and pressed her hand to her chest.

"Sit down, Zuko." Katara's voice was firm. "It's over now. Sit down."

He did sit down. The room let out its breath. After a few moments, voices murmured, and then talked and laughed gain. But Zuko wasn't sure that it was over. Perhaps it was over with this girl, and these merchants. But there would be a new group of merchants tomorrow. And these merchants would move on, and find themselves another girl.

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"My sincerest apologies, Prince Zuko, Lady Katara, but the inn is more crowded than usual. It's the heart of trade season and merchants have flowed in by the dozens."

"Is there not a single room left?" Zuko tried not to let the annoyance tugging him slip into his tone.

The innkeeper's wife looked at her daughter, who nodded timidly.

"My daughter," she said, "is willing to lend you her room for the night. Please, this way," she continued while ushering the two up a flight of wooden stairs. "Later in the evening, I'll be bringing up an extra set of blankets."

The woman didn't stay long enough to witness the silent feud between the two benders.

"One bed? Surely she's joking." Zuko scowled.

"She did say she was bringing up an extra set of blankets," Katara tried her best to stifle her laughter.

"It's not a joking matter." He growled.

"Really?" She sauntered over to the bed and sat down, neatly crossing her legs. "Are you afraid of spending the night with me, Prince Zuko?

He would be damned. She was sitting there so calmly, and it drove him mad. Mad. But, if she was going to play this game, he would play it ten times better.

"Prince of the Fire Nation? Afraid? Or have you forgotten our fights?" He strutted over and pinned her arms to the bed. He could feel his heart beating loudly, like the constant of a drum, as her eyes peered at him. He felt swallowed by the brightness of her eyes, and for a moment they stayed there pretending as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.

A light tap on the door forced them apart and Zuko cleared his throat and allowed the innkeeper's wife to deliver an extra set of blankets.

"I'll take the floor," he said.

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A knock woke her. She sat up and absorbed her surroundings. Again, the knock grew louder. She hadn't been asleep long, and it was midnight; and enough moonlight spilled through her window. All these thoughts swept through her mind in the instant she sat up.

"Katara, it's only me," his voice called, through the keyhole. "It's a double lock. You must unlock it from the inside."

She rolled out of bed. And where was the key?

"It's hanging beside the door," he called, and she took a moment to glare in his general direction.

"I only went out for a breath or air and locked myself out. You needn't glare at me like that."

Katara felt along the wall. Her fingers touched a key. She turned the key in the lock and swung the door open. Zuko straightened up, and entered with candle in his hand.

"I'm going back to bed," Katara said, and she reached to close the door.

"All right, all right. But for a waterbender who thrives when the sun sets, you truly have been staying in the Fire Nation too long."

"Do you hear that?" she asked, quickly dropping to a more serious tone. "It's the men, the merchants who were bothering that girl. I think they intend to pay us a visit within a few moments."

"How do you know?"

"Their rooms are below us, and their chi certainly isn't of a person sleeping."

He shook his head, disbelieving. "No one in this inn has privacy."

"My sense of them is faint, Zuko. I cannot sense everyone down to the ends of their hair, as I do you."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "What an honor, then, to be me. They're coming in the middle of the night?"

"Yes."

"Do they have information?"

"I believe they do."

"Do you trust them?"

"Not particularly. I think they'll come soon, Zuko. We should be ready."

She stepped a few steps back and lit a candle, splashed water on her face, and prepared herself for the arrival of the late-night merchants.

o

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He felt someone shake his shoulders lightly, and he awoke to find Katara already stepping into the hallway. All six men were there, each carrying a candle that cast a dark light over a bearded face. They were tall, and broad-backed, all six of them, enormous next to her, and even the smallest taller and broader than Zuko. Quite a band of bullies. He followed them back into the room.

"You're awake and dressed, My Lord Prince, My Lady," the biggest of the merchants said as they filed into the bedroom chamber. It was the man who'd first tried to grab the serving girl's arm, the one who'd first teased her. Zuko registered the mockery as he spoke their titles. He had no more respect for them than they had for him. The one who'd taken the girl's wrist stood beside him, and those two seemed to be the leaders of the group. They stood together, in the middle of the room, facing Katara, while the other four faded into the background.

They were well spread out, these merchants. Zuko moved closer to the door, steps away from Katara who was leaning against the frame with arms crossed. He could see the two leaders, now, and she could see the other four. It was more precaution than necessary. But it didn't hurt for any of them to know they were watching.

"We've been receiving visitors throughout the night," Katara said, an easy lie. "You're not the only travelers at the inn who have information about my uncle."

"Be careful of the others, Princess," said the biggest merchant. "Men will lie for money."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for the warning." She slouched against the table behind her now, and put her hands in her pockets. Zuko swallowed his smile. He rather enjoyed Katara's cocky laziness.

"What information do you have for us?" Katara asked.

"How much will you pay?" the man said.

"I'll pay whatever the information warrants."

"There are six of us," the man said.

"I'll give it to you in coins divisible by six," Katara said, "If that's what you wish."

"I meant, Lady Princess, that it's not worth our time to divulge information if you'll not compensate us enough for six men."

Katara chose that moment to yawn. When she spoke, her voice was calm, even friendly. "I won't haggle over a price when I don't know the breadth of your information. You'll be fairly compensated. If that doesn't satisfy you, you're free to leave."

And this was where Zuko could only stand back and watch in awe as she easily negotiated with men who thrived on it. Her laidback demeanor provoked no violent gestures, and for all he knew, the merchants were not smart enough to see the card she was playing.

The man rocked on his feet for a moment. He glanced sideways at his partner. His partner nodded, and the man cleared his throat.

"Very well," he said. "We have information that links the kidnapping to a nobleman far east from here."

"How interesting," Katara said, and the farce had begun. Katara asked all the questions one would ask if one were conducting this interrogation seriously. What was the source of their information? Was the man trustworthy who had divulged the information? What was the motivation for the kidnapping? Had the nobleman any alliance with the Four Nations? How were nobleman's dungeons guarded?

"Well, Prince Zuko," Katara said, with a glance in his direction, "We'll have to send word quickly, so that my brother knows to investigate the eastern dungeons.

"You won't travel there yourselves?" The merchant was surprised. And disappointed, most likely, that he hadn't managed to send Katara and Zuko on a futile mission.

"We go northeast," Katara said. "To the Air Nomads and Avatar Aang."

"Avatar Aang was not responsible for your uncle's disappearance," the man said.

"I never said he was."

"The Avatar is blameless. You waste your energies searching the Air Temples, when your uncle's captors are straight east."

Katara yawned again. She shifted her weight against the table and crossed her arms. She looked back at the man blandly. "We don't go to the Air Temples to investigate my uncle's captors," she said. "It is a social visit. My aunt is the wife of Avatar Aang. She's most distressed by the kidnapping. We mean to call on her. Perhaps bring the comfort of your news to her family."

The man seemed to enjoy being the center of Katara's attention. He glanced at his companions and lifted his chin but the biggest merchant interrupted.

"We agreed to give you information for a price. We'll be wanting more compensation if this interrogation steps any deeper into the night."

"And anyway, I'm suddenly dying of a sickness called boredom," a man in the background said.

"Oh," said the first, "perhaps you have a more amusing diversion in mind?"

"With different company," said the man in the far left corner.

They were laughing now, the six of them chuckling over a private joke Zuko had a feeling he understood.

"And now for protective fathers and the locked bedroom doors of serving girls," the partner said, very low to his friends, but not too low for Zuko's trained ears. He urged toward the men before the burst of laughter had even begun.

Katara blocked him so fast that he knew she must have started imperceptibly first. "Stop," she said to him softly. "Think. Breathe."

The wave of impulsive anger swept over him, and he allowed her body to block his path to the merchant, to the two of them, to all six of them, for these men were all the same to him.

"You're the only woman in Four Nations who can keep that _Firebender_ on a leash," said one of the two men. He wasn't sure which one, for he was distracted by the effect the words had on Katara's face.

"It's unfortunate for us she has a prince in her hands," the man continued. "And you're a lucky woman yourself. The wild ones are the most fun, if you can control them."

Katara looked at him, but she didn't see him. Her eyes snapped, crystal blue. The arm that blocked him stiffened, and her hand tightened into a fist. She inhaled, endlessly it seemed. She was furious; he saw this, and he thought she was going to strike the man who had spoken; and for a panicky moment he didn't know whether to stop her or help her.

Stop her. He would stop her, for she wasn't thinking. He took her forearms, and gripped them tightly. He thought her name into her head. _Katara. ,_ he thought into her mind, just as she had said to him. _Think._ She began to breathe out, as slowly as she'd breathe in. Her eyes refocused and she saw him.

She turned around and stood beside him. She faced the two men; it didn't even matter which of them had spoken.

"Get out." Her voice was very quiet.

"We would have our payment-"

Katara took a step toward the men, and they all stepped back. She held her arms at her sides with a casual calmness that didn't fool anyone in the room. Zuko could feel the room grow twenty degrees cooler.

"Have you the slightest notion to whom you're speaking?" she asked. "Do you imagine you'll receive a coin of my money, when you've spoken this way? You're lucky I let you go without freezing your body and shattering it."

"Are you sure we shouldn't?" Zuko asked, looking into the eyes of each man, one after the other. "I'd like to do something to discourage them from touching the innkeeper's daughter."

"We won't," one of the gasped. "We won't touch her, I swear it."

"You'll be sorry if you do," he said. "Sorry for the rest of your short, wretched lives."

"We won't, Prince Zuko. We won't." They backed to the door, their faces white, their smirks vanished now. "It was only a joke, My Lord, I swear it."

"Get out," Katara said. "Your payment is that we won't kill you for your insults."

The men scrambled from the room. Katara slammed the door behind them. Then she leaned her back against the door and slid down until she sat on the floor. She rubbed her face with her hands and heaved a deep sigh.

Zuko took a candle from the table and came to sit beside her. He tried to measure her tiredness and her anger in the bend of her head and the stiffness of her shoulders. She dropped her hands from her face and rested her head against his shoulder. For a moment, he could only bask in the warmth of having her so near.

"I truly thought I might hurt that man," she said, "very badly."

"I didn't know you were capable of such temper."

"Apparently I am."

"Katara," Zuko said, as a thought occurred to him. "How did you know I intended to attack them? My intentions were toward them, not you."

"Yes, but my sense of your energy heightened suddenly, and I know you well enough to guess when you're likely to take a swing at someone." She half-smiled, tiredly. "No one could ever accuse you of being inconsistent."

He chuckled and subtly pulled her closer, for her body against his felt so good. She didn't refuse.

"And now will you tell me what you learned from them?" he asked when they were both comfortable.

"Yes." She closed her eyes. "What I learned. To start with, those men barely spoke a true word. It was a game. They wanted to trick us into paying them for false information. To get back at us, for the incident in the eating room."

"They're small-minded," Zuko said.

"Very small-minded," she agreed, "But they've helped us, nonetheless, by eliminating several regions. I'm almost sure of it now…that this has something to do with Aang. It's so odd, Zuko. I know he wouldn't ever harm a soul, but things have changed. None of this makes sense," she said weakly and stared into her hands.

He started, then focused on blankness for a moment.

"I know you're keeping things from me, Zuko."

He was silent as she continued. "Ever since you've learned that I can sense your energy, even sometimes your thoughts, I've felt you keeping things from me. You're doing it now- and I can tell you it works, because I can feel nothing. I'm always a bit relieved when it works, Zuko. Truly, I don't wish to take your secrets from you."

She sat up straight, her face lit with an idea. "You know, you could always knock me unconscious. I wouldn't stop you."

Zuko laughed then. "I wouldn't. I've promised you I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, except in our practices."

"But it's self-defense, in this case."

"It is not."

"It is," she insisted, and he laughed at her earnestness.

"I'd rather strengthen my mind against you," he said, "than knock you out every time I have a thought I don't want you to know."

"Yes, well, and I'd prefer that also, believe me. But I grant you permission to knock me out, if you ever need to."

"I wish you wouldn't. You know how impulsive I am." 

"I don't care."

"If you grant me permission, I'll probably do it, Katara. I'll probably-"

She held gently placed a hand over his lips. "It's an equalizer. When we fight, I know you hold back. I can't hold back when I sense your energy or your thoughts. So you must have the right to defend yourself."

He didn't like it. But he could not miss her point. And he could not miss her willingness, her dear willingness, to give over her bending for him.

"You will always have a headache," he warned.

"Perhaps Lu Ten included his salve for headaches among the medicines."

He was laughing again, and he swore to himself that he wouldn't hit her; he wouldn't, unless he was entirely desperate. And then the candle on the floor beside them dimmed and died. Their conversation had gotten entirely off track. They were leaving for the Northern Air Temple early in the morning, most likely, and it was the middle of the night and everyone in the town slept. Yet here they were, sitting on the floor, laughing in the dark.

"We leave for Northern Air Temple tomorrow, then?" she said.

"We'll fall asleep on our ostrich-horses."

"I'll fall asleep. You'll ride as if you've slept for days- as if it's a race between us to see who reaches there first."

"And what will we find when we get there? The Avatar? Can he be so kind in the rest of his life that everyone forgives his crimes, or fails to see them?"

She sat for a moment, quietly. She thought of Aang, and their past. Her eyes traced Zuko's silhouette, dark against the wooden door. His eyes were the only part of him truly visible, a luminous gold in the darkness. She wished, suddenly, that she could see him better. He stood and pulled her to her feet. He pulled her to the window and looked down into her face. The moonlight caught a glimmer in his amber eyes. She didn't know why she had felt so anxious or why the lines of his nose and his mouth, or the concern of his eyes, should comfort her.

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**Author's Note: I'm on a roll! I think it's my third update this week. I'd just like to thank all my reviewers for such awesome support xD**

**AHH I CAN'T WAIT! LOTS AND LOTS of LEMONY FLUFF IN THE NEXT COUPLE CHAPTERS! **

**BTW am I making Zuko talk too much? Is he too outward in his feelings for Katara? **

**Disclaimer: Avatar belongs to Nickelodeon & Graceling/this Storyline belongs to Kristin Cashore**

**-Alicia **


	12. Chapter 12

**WARNING: SOME LEMON Y REFERENCES IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**WARNING: SOME LEMON Y REFERENCES IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**WARNING: SOME LEMON Y REFERENCES IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**Chapter 12**

There were two ways to get to the Northern Air Temple from the inn or from any point in the borderlands. One was to travel south and take a path that looped up to the mountains. This route was traveled by merchants who carried goods, and most parties that contain women, children, or the elderly.

The other was shorter but more difficult. It required for them to cut directly through the borderland forest that grew thicker and wilder and rose to meet the mountains that formed the Air Nomad's border with the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. The path became too rocky and uneven for the ostrich-horses. Those who crossed the mountain pass did so on foot. An inn on either side of the pass bought or kept the animals of those who approached the mountains and sold or returned them to those who came from the mountains. This was the route Zuko and Katara would take.

The Northern Air Temple was the walk of a day or so beyond the mountain pass, less if they purchased new ostrich-horses. The walk to the temple wound through the valleys grown lush with the water that flowed down from the mountaintops. It was a landscape of icy rivers and streams, Zuko was sure Katara would adapt nicely to the cooler mountain air.

Late in the morning the skies began to drip. By afternoon the drizzle had turned to rain, a cold, relentless rain that beat down and hid the forest road from their sight. Even with Katara freezing the rain surrounding them, she could only keep doing so for so long. Finally they stopped, soaked to the skin, to see what they could do about shelter before night fell. The tangle of trees on either side of the road provided some cover. The enormous pine smelled of the sap dripping from its branches with the rainwater.

"It's as dry a place as we're likely to find," Katara said. She smiled. "I can't say I really mind the rain, it's soothing."

Zuko wasn't in similar spirits. "A fire will be impossible, but at least we won't sleep in the rain."

"A fire is never impossible," Katara said. "I'll bend the water out of the branches, and move the supplies here so I can dry those too."

Zuko did as she said and stepped out into the downpour, "I'll be back with dinner."

So Zuko set out into the trees, somewhat skeptically, and Katara set to work bending the water out of their soaked belongings.

When Zuko came back, dripping, to their camp, she was grateful for the fat rat-rabbit in his hand. He stepped in and wiped the water from his face.

"You're soaking wet, you must be cold."

Silently, Zuko steamed himself dry and replied, "I'm a firebender. I've never been cold."

She laughed at that. He crouched beside her. "It's good to hear you laugh," he said and breathed a warm fire into the branches.

Katara warmed herself, saw to their dinner, and tried to make a casual conversation. When the meat was propped and sizzling above the flames, Zuko joined her. He opened Lu Ten's packet of medicines and inspected them. They were dried, but the water had smudged the ink labeling rendering the herbs almost useless if they didn't know what each was. He sighed.

It was comfortable, their camp, with the drops plopping down from above and the warmth of the fire, and the smell of burning wood and cooking meat. Katara's patter of conversation was comfortable. Zuko kept the fire alive and smiled at her talk. He fell asleep that night, in a blanket partly wet from the drops that dripped down occasionally, secure in the certainty that he was in tune to his surroundings.

o

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She woke in the middle of the night in a panic, certain that Zuko had gone and that she was alone. But it must have been the tail end of a dream, snagging into her consciousness as it departed, for she could hear his breath through the even fall of rain. When she turned over and sat up, she could make out his form on the ground beside her. She reached out and touched his shoulder. Just to make sure. He had not left her; he was here, and they were traveling together through the mountain pass leading to Air Nomad lands. She lay down again, and watched the outline of his sleeping body in the darkness. A thin moon shown in the sky, and she felt comforted.

She would accept his protection after all, if truly she needed it. She was not too proud to be helped by him. He'd helped her in a thousand ways already.

And she would protect him as fiercely, if it were ever his need-if a fight became too much for him or if he needed shelter, or food, or simply company in the rain. Or anything she could provide. She would give him anything, and would protect him from everything.

That was settled then. She closed her eyes and slipped into sleep.

o

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Zuko didn't know what was wrong with him when he woke the next morning. He couldn't explain the fury he felt toward her. There was no explanation; and perhaps she knew that, because she asked for none. She only commented that the rain had stopped, watched him as he rolled his blanket, deliberately not looking at her. As they traveled, still he did not look at her. And though she couldn't have missed the force of his fury, she made no comment.

When they stopped to rest beside a pond swollen with rainwater, she leaned against a tree and ate a piece of bread. She watched him, calmly, silently. He didn't look at her, but he was aware of her eyes on him, always on him. Nothing was more infuriating than the way she leaned against a tree, and ate bread, and watched him with those blue eyes.

"What are you staring at?" he finally demanded.

"This pond is full of fish," she said. "Catfish, hundreds of them. Don't you think it's funny I should know that with such clarity?"

He would hit her, for her calmness, and her latest ability to count catfish she couldn't see. He clenched his fists and turned, forced himself to walk away. Off the road, into the trees, past the trees, and then he was running through the forest, startling birds into flight. He ran past streams and patches of fern, and hills covered with moss. He shot into a clearing with a waterfall that fell over the rocks and plummeted into a pool. He yanked off his boots, pulled off his clothing, and leaped into the water. He screamed at the cold the surrounded his body all at once, and his nose and mouth filled with water. He surfaced coughing, and teeth chattering. He laughed at the coldness for it reminded him so much of her, and scrambled to shore. And now, standing in the dirt, the cold cooling his rage, he was calm.

It was when he returned to her, chilled and clearheaded, that it happened. She sat against the tree, her knees bent and her head in her hands. Her shoulders slumped. Tired, unhappy. Something tender caught in his breath at the sight of her. And then she raised her eyes and looked at him, and he saw what he had not seen before. He swallowed.

Her eyes were beautiful. Her face was beautiful to him in every way, and her slender shoulders and hands. And her chest that was not moving, because she held her breath as she watched him. And the heart in his chest. This friend. How had he not seen this before? He was blind. And then he saw tears from those azure eyes of hers. He had not asked for this beautiful woman before him, with something hopeful in her eyes that he did not want.

"I don't want this," he said.

"Zuko..." her face, so innocent. "I hadn't planned for it either."

He gripped the branch of a nearby tree to steady himself. "You…you have a way of upending my plans."

She cried out and sank to her knees, then forced herself up before he could come to her, and help her, and touch her.

"Get on your ostrich-horse," she said, "right now. We're riding."

She mounted and took off, without even waiting to be sure he followed. They rode, and he allowed only one thought to enter his mind, over and over. _I don't love her. I don't love her._ He matched it to the rhythm of his animal's hooves. And if she knew his thought, all the better.

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o

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When they stopped for the night he did not speak to her, but he couldn't pretend she wasn't there. He felt every move she made, without seeing it. He felt her eyes watching him across the fire he built. It was like this every night for days, and this was how it would continue to be. She would sit there gleaming in the light of the fire, and he unable to look at her, because she glowed, and she was beautiful, and he couldn't stand it.

"Please, Zuko," she finally said. "At least talk to me."

He swung around to face her. "What is there to talk about? You know how I feel, and what I think about it."

"And what I feel? Doesn't that matter?" her voice barely above a whisper.

Her voice was small, so unexpectedly small, in the face of his bitterness that it shamed him. He sat down across from her.

She seemed suddenly not to know what to say. She looked into her lap and played with her rings; she took a breath and rubbed her head; and when she raised her face to his again he felt that her eyes were naked, that he could see right through them into the lights of her soul. He knew what she was going to say.

"I know you don't want this, Zuko. But I can't help myself. From the moment we met, I was lost. I'm afraid to tell you what I wish for, for fear you'll…oh, I don't know, throw me into the fire. Or more likely, refuse me. Or worst of all, hate me for it," she said, her voice breaking and her eyes darker.

"I love you," she said. "You're dearer to my heart than I even knew anyone could be." She was crying now. It was because of a certainty he refused to consider while he sat before her.

He stood up. "I need to go."

She pulled at his shirt. "No, Zuko, please."

"I won't go far, Katara. I just need to think, without you in my head."

"I'm afraid if you leave you won't come back."

"Katara." This assurance, at least, he could give her. "I'll come back."

She looked at him for a moment. "I understand you. But I'm afraid once you've gone off to think, you'll decide the solution is to leave me."

"I won't."

"I can't know that."

"No," Zuko said, "you can't. But I need to think on my own, so you have to let me go. And once I'm gone you'll just have to trust me, just as I do, with you."

She looked at him with those naked, unhappy eyes again. Then she took a breath and nodded. "Put a good ten minutes between us," she said, "if you want privacy."

Ten minutes was a far greater range than he'd understood her bending to encompass; but that was an argument for another time. He felt her eyes on his back as he passed through the trees. He groped forward, hands and feet, in search of darkness, distance, and solitude.

o

o

o

Alone in the forest, Zuko stood still, and yelled. He released every anger, every reason why he might be angry. His heart roared like a person whose heart is broken and wondered how, when two people loved each other, there could be such a broken heart.

He couldn't have her, and there was no mistaking it. She could never be his wife. He could not declare himself free of his father, only to give himself away to another. He could not belong to another person, be answerable to another person, and build his very being around another person. No matter how he loved her.

Zuko sat in the darkness of the forest and understood three truths. He loved Katara. He wanted Katara. And he could never be anyone's but his own.

After a while, he began to thread his way back to the fire. Nothing had changed in his feelings, and he wasn't tired. But Katara would suffer if she didn't sleep; and he knew she wouldn't sleep until he had returned.

o

o

o

She was lying on her back, wide awake, staring up at the half-moon. He went to her and sat before her. She watched him with soft eyes and didn't say anything. He looked back at her, and opened up his feelings to her, so that she would understand what he felt, what he wanted, and what he couldn't do. She sat up. She watched his face for a long time.

"You know I'd never expect you to change who you are, if we were to wed," she finally said.

"It would change me to be your husband," he said.

She watched his eyes. "Yes. I understand you."

A log fell into the fire. They sat quietly. Her voice, when she spoke, was hesitant.

"It strikes me that heartbreak isn't the only alternative to marriage," she said.

"What do you mean?"

She closed her eyes for a moment and raised her eyes to him. "I'll give myself to you however you'll take me," she said, so simply that Zuko found it to be somewhat innocent.

He watched her face. "And where would that lead?"

"I don't know. But I trust you."

He watched her eyes.

She offered herself to him. She trusted him. As he trusted her.

He hadn't considered this possibility, when he'd sat alone in the forest, contemplating his anger. He hadn't even thought of it. And her offer hung suspended before him now, for his to reach out and claim; and that which had seemed clear and simple and heartbreaking was confused and complicated again. But also touched with hope.

Could he still be her lover and still belong to himself?

That was the question; and he didn't know the answer.

"I need to think," he said.

"Think here," she said, "please. I'm so tired, Zuko. I'll fall right asleep."

He nodded. "All right. I'll stay." He reached down and wiped a tear that sat on her check. He felt the touch of her fingertip on his hand, and fought against it, against allowing her to know of it. She lay down. He stood and moved to a tree outside the light of their fire. He sat against it and watched Katara's silhouette, waiting for her to fall asleep.

o

o

o

**Author's Note: I just had to do that because I feel SO relieved that their feelings are out in the open now! Sorry, it's a short chapter, but filled with lots of fluff _**

**I know this chapter might be somewhat confusing, so feel free to PM me and ask me anything u want :) **

**Also, I really hope u guys understand that I'm not claiming credit for any of Kristin Cashore's story, I just thought it'd be great for an Avatar FF. I'm not making any money of this FF, and only using it for the purpose of recreational reading and writing. ALL CREDIT BELONGS TO KRISTIN CASHORE!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Warning: This chapter is rated M for sexual content**

**Author's Note: Actually, to be honest, I was debating whether to upload this chapter or not. This is meant partly as a romance fanfiction, but for those who like the adventure aspect, you can go ahead and skip this chapter and go onto the next one once it's uploaded (this chapter is all lemon/fluff and not conducive to the storyline). As of late, this will be the ONLY M rated chapter.**

**Chapter 13**

The notion of having a lover was to Zuko something like discovering a limb he'd never noticed before. An extra arm. It was unfamiliar, and he poked and prodded it,

That the lover would be Katara reduced his confusion somewhat. It was by thinking of Katara, and not of the notion of a lover, that Zuko became comfortable enough to consider what it would mean to lie in her bed but not be her wife.

It too more than the thinking of one night. They moved through the dense forest, and they talked and rested and made camp as before. But their silences were perhaps a bit less easy than they had been; and Zuko broke off occasionally, to keep his own company and think in solitude. They did not practice fighting, for Zuko was shy of her touch. And she didn't press it upon him. She pressed nothing upon him, even conversation, even her gaze.

They moved as quickly as the road allowed. But the farther they traveled, the more the road resembled a trail at best, winding through overgrown gullies and around trees the size of which Zuko had never seen. Trees with trunks as wide as pillars of his father's palace, and branches that groaned far above them. They had to duck sometimes to avoid curtains of vines hanging from the branches. The land rose as they moved north, and streams crisscrossed the forest floor.

Their route at least provided some distraction for Katara. She couldn't stop looking around, her eyes wide. "It's wild, this forest. Have you ever seen anything like this? It's gorgeous."

Gorgeous, and full of animals fattening themselves for winter. Easy hunting, and easy finding shelter. But Zuko felt palpably that the ostrich-horses were moving as slowly as his mind.

"I think we would move faster on ouer feet," he said.

"You'll miss the ostrich-horses when we have to give them up."

"And when will that be?"

"It looks possibly ten days away on the map."

"I'll prefer traveling by foot."

"You never tire," Katara said, "do you?"

"I do, if I haven't slept for a long time. Or if I'm carrying something very heavy. I felt tired when I carried your uncle up a flight of saires."

She glanced at him, eyebrows high. "You carried my uncle up a flight of stairs?"

"Yes, at Ozai's palace."

"After a day and night of hard riding?"

"Yes."

Her laugh burst out, but he didn't see the joke. "I had to do it, Katara. If I hadn't, the mission would've failed."

"He weights as much as you, and half as much again."

"Well, I'm stronger, Katara."

His mind returned to the matter at hand. As it couldn't help but do, with Katara always before him.

o

o

o

What was the difference between a wife and a lover? If he took Katara as his wife, he would be making promises about a future he couldn't yet see. For once he became her husband, he would be her husband forever. And, no matter how much freedom Katara gave him, he would always know that it was a gift. His freedom would not be his own; he would always belong to someone else.

If katara were his lover, would he feel captured, cornered into a sense of forever? Commitment was to him, more painful than fear. All his life he was committed to his father, he _belonged _to his father, and now was his chance to manage his own freedom.

They were lying on opposites sides of a dying fire one night when a new worry occurred to him. What if he took more from Katara than he could give to her?

"Katara?"

He heard her turn onto her side. "Yes?"

"How will you feel if I'm forever leaving? If one day I give myself to you and the next I take myself away-with no promises to return?"

"Zuko, a woman would be a fool to try to keep you in a cage. I know that…better than anyone."

"But that doesn't tell me how you'll feel., always to be a subject to my whim."

"It isn't your whim. It's the need of your heart. You forget that I'm in a unique position to understand you, Zuko. Whenever you pull away from me I'll know it's not for lack of love. Or if it si, I'll know that, too; and I'll know it's right for you to go."

"But you're not answering my question. How will you feel?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. I'll probably feel a lot of things. But only one of the things will be unhappiness; and unhappiness I'm willing to risk."

Zuko stared up into the treetops. "Are you sure of that?"

She sighed. "I'm certain."

She was willing to risk unhappiness. And there was the crux of the matter. He couldn't know where this would lead, and to proceed was to risk all kinds of unhappiness.

The fire gasped and died. He was frightened. For as their camp turned to darkness, he also found himself choosing risk.

o

o

o

The next day Zuko would have given anything for a clear, straight, path, for hard riding and tundering hooves to drown out all feeling. Instead the road wound back and forth, p rises and into gullies, and he didn't know how he kept himself from erupting. Nightfall led them into a hollow where water trickled into a low, still pool. Moss covered the trees and the ground. Moss hung from the vines that hung from the trees, and dripped into the pool that shone green like the floor of his father's courtyard.

"You seem a bit edgy," Katara said. "Why don't you hunt? I'll gather firewood."

He allowed the first few animals he stumbled across to escape. He thought that if he plunged deepter into the forest and took more time, he might wear down some of his jitters. But when he returned to camp much later with a hound-fox in hand, nothing had changed. She sat calmly before the fire he lit, and he thought he might burst apart. He threw their meat onto the ground beside the flames. He sat on a rock and dropped his head into his hands.

He knew what it was rattling around inside his head. It was fear, plain and cold.

He turned to her. "I understand why we shouldn't fight each other when one of us is angry. But is there harm in fighting when one of us is frightened?"

She looked into the fire and considered his question evenly. She looked into his face.

"I think it depends on what you hope to gain by fighting."

"I think it'll calm me. I think it'll make me comfortable with…with you being near." He rubbed his forehead, sighing. "It'll return me to myself."

She watched him. "It does seem to have that effect on you."

"Will you fight me now, Katara?"

She watched him for a moment longer and then moved away from the fire and motioned for him to follow. He walked after her, dazed, his mind buzzing so crazily it was numb, and when they faced each other he found himself staring at her. He shook his head to clear it, but it did no good.

"Hit me," he said.

She paused for a fraction of a second. Then she raised a wave from the pond behind and froze it, sending claws of ice at him. He raised a fist to block his face, and turned around to create a lash of flames. He would fight her, and he would beat her. She hadn't beaten him yet, and she wouldn't beat him tonight. No matter the darkness, and no matter the whirlwind in his mind, for now that they had fought, the whirlwind vanished. Zuko's mind was clear.

He hit hard and fast, one blast after another. He could see the faintest of smiles on Katara's lips.

"It's a full moon tonight," she said.

Every tree they slammed into, every root they tripped over, centered him. He fell into the comfort of fighting with Katara, and the fight was ferocious.

When he wrestled her ot the ground and pushed his face away, he called out. "Wait. Blood. I taste blood."

She stopped struggling. "Where? Not your mouth?"

"I think it's my arm."

She crouched beside him and took his arm. Taking a breath, a glowing glove of blue encased it and he could feel the drip of blood lessen.

"I stopped the bleeding," she said. "But it's best to let it heal naturally."

He nodded, and she smiled again. "I told you, didn't I? To fight me once on a full moon?"

"It's nothing," he said, jokingly, refusing to accept she was stronger. "besides, it was probably just the edge of your boot that nicked me."

"We shouldn't be fighting in boots," concern arose in her tone.

"We can't fight barefoot in the forest, Katara. Truly, it's nothing."

"Nonetheless-"

"There's blood on your mouth," he said in a funny distract sort of voice that made plain how little he cared about his injured arm. He raised a finger and almost touched her lip; and then dropped his finger, as if he realized suddenly that he was doing something he shouldn't. He cleared his throat and looked away from her.

And he felt it then, how near she was. He felt her hand and her wrist, warm under his fingers. She was here, right here, breathing before him; she was touching him; and he felt the risk, as if it were water splashing cold on his skin. He knew that this was the moment to choose. He knew his choice.

She turned her eyes back to him, and in them he saw that she understood. She climbed into his arms. And he held her, as she was crying, as much from relief to be held by him as from the fear of what they were about to do. He held her tighter, and whispered her name over and over.

She buried her face into his shirt and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt warm in her arms, and calm, and safe and brave. And then she was laughing, laughing at how nice it felt, how good her body felt against his. He grinned at her, a wicked, gleaming grin that made her warm everywhere. And then his lips touched her throat and nuzzled her neck. She gasped. His mouth found hers. She turned to fire.

Some time later, as she lay with him in the moss, clinging to him, hypnotized by something his lips did to her throat, she remembered his bleeding hand and made a point to bring it up.

"Later," he growed, and then she remembered the blood on her mouth, but that only brought his mouth to hers again, tasting, seeking, and his hands fumbling at her clothing, and her hands fumbling at his. And the warmth of his skin, as their bodies explored each other. And after all, they knew each other's bodies as well as any lovers; but this touch was so different, straining toward instead of against.

"Zuko," she said once, when one clear thought pierced her mind.

"It's in the medicines," he whispered. "There is seabane in the medicines," and his hands, and his mouth, and his body returned her to mindlessness. He made her drunk, this man made her drunk; and every time his eyes flashed into hers she could not breathe.

She expected the pain, when it came. But she gasped at its sharpness; it was not like any pain she had felt before. He kissed her and slowed and would have stopped. But she laughed, and said that this one time she would consent to hurt, and bleed, at his touch. He smiled into her neck and kissed her again and she moved with him through the pain. The pain became a warmth that grew. Grew, and stopped her breath. And took her breath and her pain and her mind away from her body, so that there was nothing but her body and his body and the light and fire they made together.

o

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o

They lay afterward, warmed by each other and by the heat of the fire. He touched her nose an dher motuh. He played with the jewelry in her ears and with his fingers, traced the tattoos patterned down her body. He held her and kissed her, and his eyes flickered into hers.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She laughed. "I have not lost myself. And you?"

He smiled. "I'm very happy."

She traced the line of his jaw to his ear and down to his shoulder, and rested her head in the crook of his arm.

"And Lu Ten thought we'd end this way, too," she said. "Apparently, we're the only ones who didn't see it coming."

"Lu Ten will made a very good Fire Lord," Zuko acknowledged.

"Let's pick up the pace tomorrow," she said, thinking of men who are not good rulers.

"Yes, all right. Are you in pain still?"

"No?"

"Why do you suppose it happens that way? Why does a woman feel that pain?"

She had no answer to that. Women felt it that was all she knew.

"Let me clean your cuts," he said.

"I'll clean you first."

She shivered as she left his body to go to the fire, and find water and cloths. She leaned into the light, and brightness and shadows moved across her body.

She was beautiful. He admired her, and she flashed a grin at him. _Almost as beautiful as you are conceited,_ she thought back at him, and he laughed out loud.

It struck him that this should feel strange, to be lying here, watching her, teasing her. To have done what they'd done, and be what they'd become. But instead it felt natural and comfortable. Inevitable. And only in the smallest bit terrifying.


End file.
